Harry Potter and the Mischief Palace
by Mariann's
Summary: Harry is sent back - waaay back! Read what he gets to see! Pairings: HP/HG, RL/SB (slash!) and others. This is some silly fun - Completely AU right from the start and will stay AU!
1. Prologue

A/N: This is another 'Harry goes back' story. Only this 'Going Back' will be very different, as the story becomes a story within a story. At the core will be my old 'Baby Boom', but it receives an uplift by a new presence and will follow Harry's life later on as well.

**No** Horcrux in Harry!

pairing in the first half is Sirius and Remus this is obviously slash, too. I'll be having fun to play with lots of gender switches, don't take them too Siriously. The switches are to prevent the horrid image of male pregnancies as this really doesn't work for me. So it's a bit of a silly thing, but meant to be fun…

Until Harry is actually born the Marauders and Lily are the main focus.

_Harry's thoughts and observations. _ The meaning of this will become clear by the end of the Prologue and the start of the first chapter

Baby Boom was originally written before HBP came out and is completely AU in the POV of Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. The whole story is thus, just as AU!

* * *

**Prologue – The Death Preventer**

'Oh no, now he's got me…!' was Harry's last clear thought as the green light shot his way much too fast to react, and then everything went black.

The strange thing though was that he could think still and the moment he noticed that he was still aware of things happening, he found himself somewhere in a long, cold and empty corridor. There were countless chairs but none of them was occupied except for the one on which he sat. Even stranger was the feeling that every few minutes he seemed to move up a chair or two. Doors kept banging open and closed every other few minutes. He saw not one single being enter out or into these banging doors. The walls were non-descript grey stone, no pictures or paintings anywhere, no windows either, there were just a few candles and torches burning here and there. He kept thinking:

'But I'm dead! What a strange thing to still think? Best thing will probably be to simply wait it out. I'm dead after all, so I should have all the time in the world to wait…'

Harry pinched himself only to find that he felt nothing. He wondered what that form was; was he a ghost now? He could see but not feel himself. Did all people go like this when they died? What was it with these many empty chairs and banging doors?

But then a voice was heard:

"Harry Potter! Room 28300, please!"

Harry looked up and found an open door right in front of him that had a small tag, which read: Room 28300. 'How convenient,' he thought. 'Could have meant me to walk Merlin knows how many floors up or down…'

He rose from the chair and walked into the office. The door closed with another bang behind him. A figure between dead old and almost petrified sat behind a desk not even looking up.

"Sit down, please…"

Harry said "Good afternoon" and sat down, waiting for the man to notice him. When he finally did, he blanched and wheezed:

"**You**! How many times did I tell you not to…"

He didn't get any further, because the office was stormed by three individuals who bore down on the poor guy.

"Death Preventer Number 1008, you have just allowed this individual to die for the fifteenth time! You know what this means! Get out of this office and present yourself at BIGMAC until further notice from the Great Ones. Your position is now filled by Karli von Schneider!"

A new person entered the room. The three already there – to Harry they looked rather female, but he wasn't so sure, because they were hard to even recognise as beings – gave the man a welcome and asked:

"Mr. von Schneider, you have been trained and examined to take over a free spot as Death Preventer?"

"Yes, your Grace."

"Excellent, you are now Death Preventer Number 2227. Your sole responsibility for the time being is this young man here, Harry Potter. I take it his file has been studied extensively for the purpose of training?"

"Oh yes, your Grace, we have been practically hammered it in from day one. Seems he's an especially hard case?"

"Not anymore! Fate has declared that he is to go back to well before his birth. See to it to explain to him his rather unique situation. Poor boy has gone through hell and back several times; and he deserves heaven on earth for all that's been heaped upon him. You know the procedures; I leave you to it to give him the details. Good day, everyone!"

With that the three beings left through the door, which, of course, banged again. Harry flinched and looked after them, rather astonished. He looked back around and waited to be talked to. He didn't have to wait long as this clerk seemed to be more alert to his 'case'.

"I'm sorry to have to greet you here, because that means you've died. But as you've heard my new job title is Death Preventer and that's not something to take easy. Normally DPs get assigned a number of people to watch, but your case is so crazy – or it has been – that you already died fifteen times for your last DP alone! That's one time too many for your old DP – who's going to BIGMAC for a good long while and one DP too many. Don't even ask how many there were before DP 1008! We're there to prevent your death and we only have a limited number of times to let it happen anyway. He's been too occupied with other things to properly watch over you. That is why you are my sole concern. In other words, it's my duty to watch over you and your life and no one and nothing else."

All this was spoken with a terrible German accent, but Harry did pick up most of the content of the speech.

"Pardon me – fifteen times? How can I have died fifteen times and not knowing anything about any of the other fourteen times?"

"Well, you would have asked that same question every time, but he'd just have sent you back to when it happened, not really changing anything. It's documented here – you've been here fifteen times in the last twenty minutes! That means that your DP hasn't actively put you somewhere where your death could have been prevented. And probably a few of the earlier DPs have done pretty much the same. Oh well, that's neither here nor there, you were just unlucky to have them assigned to you. As you've just heard we're now trying something much better – since you were unable to do what Fate had planned for you…"

"…you mean ridding the world of Voldemort?"

"What? Oh no! Oh, no, NO! That was not yours to do! You were meant to be an exceptionally happy person, living with your soul mate, some Granger girl, can't remember the first name, something Greek…, and raising a nice little litter of Potters."

"Granger? Hermione? But… I love her like a sister. I'm actually meant to be with Ginny Weasley…"

"The daughter of the potion queen? Beware of her – she's damaged goods, and I don't mean damaged by Voldemort. She was already damaged long before that, conditioned to become your future wife by a potion wielding mother who had made a grave error of judging when she ensnared her own husband. Poor dear Arthur Weasley never really had more than a few Knuts to his name; she didn't know he wouldn't inherit a thing as the Weasley family passes everything to the eldest son! But female Prewetts have been a bit dim for ages. Anyway, yours is that Hermione Granger, you're right, that's her name. Knew it was something from the Greek mythology. As I've said, she's your soul mate. Fact has been given to us in training over and over, just in case. Thing is, you already went through six DPs before the unlucky guy who was waiting for you before me. For this reason her Grace has invoked the following procedure. You, my young friend will be sent back to summer 1959."

"1959? But that's more than twenty years before I was born?"

"Preeecisely! You will not be alive physically, but your conscious will be there. You will watch twenty something years of the lives of your nearest and dearest until you will come to this world. In fact you do get the unique chance to consciously know when you are conceived, you will consciously live through your mother's pregnancy and you will be fully conscious as soon as she will give birth to you. It is the lives of your nearest and dearest that will actually change, and that, my young friend, will represent the changes you need to live the life that was promised to you. In a way you could say that the fates of your nearest and dearest will change, too. You may now ask your questions if you have any!"

Harry was completely shocked for a moment. But then he swallowed and started to ask:

"What's BIGMAC? Apart from the Muggle obvious, I mean…"

"Oh, you needn't worry about that – it's just an internal term for 'Be in a good mood and clean', which is the organisation's team of cleaners after especially gruesome human messes and around parts of hell. Battlefield clean-ups are especially disliked, but they do serve as a good punishment for unsuccessful DPs. Our job is to prevent deaths, not to allow them. Your DPs have failed you and consequently you've gone through so many attempts at living you wouldn't know where your head was if we told you about all of them. Thus we stick to your last set of memories. Normally if a death still takes place in spite of a DP watching over a person that person will be sent back to live on, but the memory of the death is removed. Usually enough is changed to prevent further problems, but your latest DPs seem to have overlooked the fact that you were standing in front of Voldemort without the possibility to make the necessary changes to go on. They simply sent you back, only to be killed by this Voldemort character again. Not a good thing, because within minutes he reached the number 15!"

"Does everyone have a…"

"Oh no! Usually you simply have a guardian angel – that's how you started out, but once your so called relatives had managed to kill you in increasingly shorter increments of time you were assigned your first DP. I think you already went through three or four of them before you even got your Hogwarts letter. After each of your deaths your memory was modified as is standard procedure. And that is why we now send you back with your full memories. You have reached a state where even her Grace almost pulled out her entire hair, which is why she has decided on this procedure. The problem is that one person who has made himself very important in your life has decided on your fates instead of Fate. And Fate is most unhappy about that. She has now personally inhabited that character to give magical history the turn it needs. As for you – simply enjoy the ride, please! I hope you find the experience as nice as her Grace has planned it for you. I do not want to see you before your proper death, oh, at least 200 years from now. I'm sure we'll be able to meet up in some place around here and chat about it. I'm taking a personal interest, you know."

"But – where will I be until I get born?"

"I suppose it will be like – floating? It's just your conscious and your soul, anyway, so don't worry. No pain, no needs, no hunger, no thirst, just watching, hearing, observing… you'll be very close to your dearest ones! A learning experience not many ever get."

Harry took a deep breath. What an opportunity!

"And when I'm born can I talk to my parents immediately?"

"Well, that I don't know; we've never had a case like yours before. I would suppose that no, you won't be able to talk immediately, all children have to learn that, I suppose. It's a biological and technical issue. I don't think you would physically be able to talk from the start, but you'll probably learn much quicker than any other child. It's up to you how far you want to go in letting your parents know about your lives. Personally I'd watch first and decide when it should be needed. One thing is for sure: you will not lose your parents before their real time comes! As I said before, it is *their* lives that will change in some places. And that will be enough to change yours entirely. Maybe you won't even need to tell them about your past that never will be."

"Okay. – But isn't this like when Voldemort didn't die entirely? He couldn't exist without inhabiting animals or people to survive… but he did survive."

"Unfortunately yes! Voldemort was so twisted by his evil deeds he only survived using darkest magics only he knew! But you have a great advantage this time, two great advantages actually: firstly he won't even get close enough to try to kill you, therefore you won't have a Horcrux inside of you and secondly you know all about the Horcruxes. You know what they are and where they are – let your parents know about them and also how to destroy them. Things will take a completely different turn."

Harry thought about it and remarked:

"But if he doesn't try to kill me he won't pass his Parseltongue to me…"

"Ah! But you already know it – you may not have a scar anymore when you're born again, but you won't lose what you know – and you know how to speak to snakes!"

"Okay, that's good then. It was rather fun to listen to them sometimes… Well, then I'm ready to go and be however I'll be."

"Don't forget: your soul mate is Hermione Granger, not Miss Weasley! There may be other people in it in addition, but not one of them can be the Weasley girl."

"Got that."

"Have a good life then, Harry, and enjoy the ride!"


	2. 01 - Meet the Families

Chapter 1 – Meeting the families

_Harry was confused, but he expected that confusion would probably accompany him for quite some time. He knew that he was in the year 1959, and it was summer, but this was a completely strange family! Why was he here?_

_He had been dropped right here as soon as he left the DP's office. As he watched the family gather for dinner he noticed that it consisted of the parents and four children. He learned that the father's name was Richard, the mother's was Venetia, and he even learned the names of the children one by one: _

There was Richard Jr., who talked about starting his seventh year at Hogwarts, Samantha, who celebrated her fifteenth birthday, Roxanne, who was to start her fourth year and Julia as a second year was the baby of the family. It was mentioned that they had to leave for Hogwarts just days before their youngest sibling was expected. Richard was this year's head boy, a Hufflepuff, Samantha had followed her mother into Ravenclaw, Roxanne and Julia were both Gryffindors like their father. Harry overheard that this was the last evening before they were taking the Hogwarts Express back to school.

They were not happy. On the platform the next morning they all chided their mother gently.

"How unfair! We wanted to see the baby, mum!" Samantha said.

"Well, I can't force it out before it's time, love, you know that it's the baby who says when it wants to join us. It won't be long and I promise that you'll be allowed to come home over the weekend to meet it, alright?"

"I don't suppose we can get anything better than that, Mum, so - yes, it's alright. Love you!"

"I love you, too, Sam, have a good term! I'll miss you all, as usual."

All four children back at Hogwarts gave Venetia a few days to recover from the stressful summer months and get ready for the birth. The little boy made it easy for his Mum and came smoothly and quickly. Richard was happy about his second son. Harry had to watch the birth and all, but when he heard the name of the newly born child much became clear for him: the baby was Remus Lupin! Richard held Remus on his arm and beamed at his wife. Then he teased her:

"It's about time that the contents of testosterone in this household rises a bit! You ladies are keeping us much too downtrodden!"

"What about Sam's boyfriend, eh? He was around for most of the break; I was already beginning to wonder if he had been chucked out at home."

Richard chuckled and replied:

"Nick doesn't really count. He's all nice and everything, but he's completely under Sam's thumb! I saw his mother at the Ministry a couple of times, she was fairly glad that she got some news about her son from me! He must have been missed there after all."

"Well, both of his parents are working full time and he's an only child, so it might have been very good that he spent a lot of time here, at least he was under someone's supervision" Venetia remarked.

Richard nodded and blew a little kiss on baby Remus' forehead.

"You've just got yourself in deep trouble, little one! You were born into some hell of a family! There are three teenage girls and they'll all smother you with their love, believe me! Not to speak of your Mum and myself."

_Now that Harry knew who this baby was he began to understand. What a wonderful family, he thought. He liked them all, the parents with their bantering, which they seemed to have passed down to their children and the children, who seemed to be confident, intelligent and hard working. He wondered what had happened to all of them in his former life, because he didn't think that six people could have simply been torn from Remus! Remus had never ever mentioned them. Of course, he was a very private person and Harry had never even had the chance to have deeper conversations with the Marauder, at least not about Remus' own history, but he had always sensed great sadness in him. Maybe there was a great tragedy in his past? It was hard to put together a past he didn't know. All Harry could do was hope that it wouldn't be repeated._

Richard was hard to be separated from his newest baby. It was even harder for him to return to his work at the Ministry after his leave. The first weekend after Remus was born he went to get his older children from Hogwarts. As expected the girls were completely taken with the baby. Remus got cuddled and pampered day in and day out. Fortunately he was a very calm child. He hardly ever cried, took most things in stride and just looked at everyone in the family with his huge brown eyes. Eyes, which were mostly brown with some dark green flecks inside. He was the perfect mixture between his parents who both had light brown hair, Venetia's with a touch of blond inside. She had green eyes, her husband had dark brown eyes, and Remus' were something in between.

_About six weeks after Remus' birth Harry was pulled towards another family. This time he recognised the place immediately: he was at Grimmauld Place and he watched how Sirius was born. As soon as the baby had been cut from the umbilical cord he was taken out of the room and bathed and presented to his father. Mr. Orion Black picked up the naked baby and brought it into a room full of people, where he presented the heir of the Black family:_

"Dear family, may I present to you my firstborn, the heir of the Black family, named after many great men this family has brought forth and myself, Sirius Orion."

_Baby Sirius cried loud, most probably because he was freezing, Harry thought. _

_But before Sirius could catch a cold he was returned to the waiting wet nurse. She took him fairly gently and brought him up to his baby room, where he would be left in her care until he was old enough to join the family table. Harry spent a few hours in the house and noticed that an hour after his presentation Sirius was visited by his Uncle, whom Harry surmised would be the infamous Uncle Alphard. The man tenderly looked at the baby and Harry could almost hear his thoughts as he pledged his love for the little boy._

_While Sirius was kept completely alone Baby Remus grew into a delightful little boy who charmed his parents and siblings alike. He was everyone's favourite and it was hard to say who spoiled him more, his parents or his siblings. But overall Remus remained to be a quiet child who loved to hear stories and who read quite fluently at the age of three and started writing at the age of four. His first magic showed when he was barely two and everyone in the family recognised he would be a brilliant kid. Harry spent time between the two households and watched in delight whenever he was with the Lupins and in disgust whenever he had to see what Sirius went through as a child. He kept thinking that much of Sirius' childhood was even worse than his own, because Sirius wasn't only abused in words, but very often in beatings, too._

_Now that Harry had seen two children from birth he expected to see his parents at some point. In the meantime he had learned to work with his existence. He simply floated in the rooms and once he had noticed that he could consciously move from one place to another he switched between the Lupin and Black families. He kept a frequent look at every calendar he could see and every clock he could find. In late November he was pulled to yet another family, which he recognised soon as the Pettigrew family. Peter! He had to hold onto himself not to cry out as he saw the traitor being born and welcomed by a good family. He switched back to Remus' family almost immediately as this was the place he really felt at peace. _

_He soon learned that whenever something took place that was really significant to his life he would be pulled to the location where it happened. He bore witness to the first interactions Sirius had with his family, which were not nice for the most part. He was being groomed from the start to become the member of an old aristocratic family and the value of pure blood was hammered into him but he seemed quite resistant to their teachings from the start, which often earned him a beating. Only thanks to his Uncle Alphard's constant support he was able to withstand and stick to the common sense with which he had been born._

_Harry was then drawn to the Muggle world, where on December 15th his Mum was brought to this world. She was welcomed by her parents, Marie Rose and Frederick Evans and her sister, Petunia, who was four years old at that time. Harry especially observed Petunia closely and tried to find out if she was jealous of her sister from the start or whether that had started only after she learned that her little sister was a witch. _

_Finally, in March, Harry was drawn to a large manor house, where, in her bedroom Dorea Potter Black gave birth to her son James. Harry heard some of the discussions in the course of the evening and learned that Dorea had had three still-births and had lost a child before. When the midwitch informed her that little James was in perfect health she was relieved beyond belief. She received the loving hugs from her husband, Charlus, who was just as happy as his wife. After all the misfortune they had had he was over the moon about his little boy and hoped that there would be more of his kind in future. Harry already knew that it would not happen, but thought that who knew, maybe it would – after all this was supposed to be an altered world. In any case it was nice to meet his grandparents, who seemed to be very good people. He knew very little about them. The most he knew was from Sirius, who had loved them deeply. Dorea was his great-aunt and he had great respect for her._

_Naturally, Harry spent much of his time with the two children who would be his parents some time in the future. He found that both of them had good childhoods with the exception of the niggling jealousy Petunia developed towards her younger sister. Harry could easily see where this jealousy came from: while Petunia was a nice girl, well-mannered, but boring, her little sister was the sunshine wherever they went. Her brilliant red hair, the very special and screamingly green colour of her eyes and her sparkling character pulled people in and most people never gave Petunia a second glance once they had met the charismatic little witch. Lily was friends with everyone who met her. A few occasions were burnt in Harry's memory later on:_

When Lily was four her father announced that he had invited his boss and his wife to dinner. Marie Rose immediately planned her dinner carefully and on the day prepared the dining room with her two daughters. While Petunia made lovely place cards Marie Rose taught Lily how to lay the table. Both girls received equal praise for their help. Rose then proceeded to make the dinner where the girls were still of some help. And then the guests arrived. Petunia and Lily were presented as usual. And, as usual, Petunia was pleasant and was greeted pleasantly. Lily was brilliant and was greeted brilliantly.

_That's where Harry understood the roots of Petunia's jealousy and knew why she felt the need to categorise Lily as a freak. Lily had a brilliant character and made use of it. Lily worked to reach a goal, but she was brilliant enough that she reached her goals without too much of an effort. At the same time Petunia was not very brilliant and worked twice as hard to reach only half the goals Lily achieved. Was it any wonder she qualified Lily's magic as the very thing that made the two girls so different? Whatever Lily did, achieved, received, Petunia related it with her magic, whether it really was in relation to her magic or not. Petunia was unable to see what was Lily and what was her magic. Harry concluded that whatever would have happened he stood no chance as soon as he was delivered to this aunt he was treated the same as she had treated his mother._

Lily had a friend from a few streets away, where a less fortunate neighbourhood sat, which was the eyesore of the place, but the friend, Harry soon recognised a small Severus Snape, went to pre-school with her and they played together. He was a bit of a loner, even then, but he still let Lily know some of the things that happened to him at home. She consoled him often, and when she was eight he told her what made her really special; he told her about her magic. Lily kept it to herself and only months later the family moved away from the place after her father had changed his job and was promoted. The new place pleased Petunia and Lily liked it, too.

When Remus was four a tragic event changed his life dramatically. His parents took him for a camping trip to the Italian Alps over Easter while the older children were at Hogwarts or working. Young Richard had become an Auror and was on duty over the holidays, Samantha was out on a vacation with her latest boyfriend, Roxanne and Julia were still at Hogwarts.

It happened in the last night, when little Remus somehow managed to leave the protected campground and snuck out to take a little walk in the nearby forest. Half the campers on the campground joined his parents in the search for him as soon as they noticed his absence. They all froze, when they saw Remus being attacked by a wolf. Two of the wizards who were in the group quickly cast a spell to kill the wolf, but Remus had already been mauled. The dead wolf shifted back to a human and in that moment everyone present knew that Remus had been bitten by a werewolf.

_So there's something that didn't change, thought Harry and felt his heart reaching out to the little boy, who bore this affliction with so much grace into adulthood and through all the tribulations in his life._

The little boy survived, but the whole world around him seemed to have changed. A beast raged inside of him, causing him to become a mixture between a human being and an animal. He quickly noticed that his senses were sharpened. He would often cry out at noises, which were much louder to his ears than to anyone else's. He had to adjust to olfactory senses ten times stronger than those of a human. His eyes changed subtly, anyone who looked into them closer could notice them turning to a much lighter brown, with a golden undertone.

There were of course legal consequences. Remus had to be registered as a werewolf. He had to be brought into the Registry at regular intervals and he was taught what it meant to be a werewolf. It took him only about a month to realise that everyone he met and knew about his condition treated him with distrust and sometimes open hostility. He cried a lot in those weeks and when he transformed for the first time it was the most traumatic experience in his life after the bite. Up until the bite there had been nothing but love and sunshine in his life. After the bite he felt like he had been dropped into a dark hole.

_And Harry saw what he went through. He could hardly watch how the wolf in Remus came out and nearly tore himself to pieces._

But everyone in his family continued loving him; if possible they all became more protective of the little werewolf. He was their 'cub' and they wouldn't let him be miserable when he couldn't go to a regular school. Venetia taught him at home and whatever she taught him he sucked up.

And both parents decided that their beloved child needed siblings closer to his own age. Two years after Remus' bite they had another son, whom they named Rupert. Remus was happy to have a little brother to pamper. He turned out to be a very protective older brother and watched out for Rupert as well as he could.

"Mum, Rupert's awake," he'd call, "Can I take him out of the cradle?"

He was allowed to do many little things with the baby and it helped him over the distress of having to stay at home most of the time.

Rupert was almost two when another baby arrived. It was yet another son who was named Rowland. Venetia smiled when she looked at the baby and asked Richard:

"Well, are you happy now? The males win out in this household - at least in terms of head count!"

Richard only laughed. He loved his daughters deeply, but he had a lot of fun with his little sons. He was quite glad that in the meantime all four of his older children were standing on their own feet. He himself had done quite well at the Ministry and fortunately the fact that he had a lycanthropic son had not hindered his career there. He was now the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and earned a very good salary.

Remus grew up. He was a curious child who read an awful lot and his favourite outings were to the nearest Muggle library to get more books. He had a fairly well sized library of his own already, mostly magical, but he loved to read everything he could lay his eyes on. This pleased Venetia who took good care of Remus. She was there in the mornings after his transformations to free him from his cellar prison as soon as the moon had set. She healed him and learned everything there was to know about werewolves in the course of the first few years her son was one. She had found a lot of tricks to heal what wounds remained after the moon set. She learned that most of his wounds would heal within an hour after moonset, but the worst ones needed to be healed magically. Remus looked frail and his growth had been held up because of his transformations. They proved simply too much for him to grow regularly. But he was never ill. Apart from the transformations he was as healthy as any boy could be. And he was a very crafty little one. There was quite a lot of mischief in him, which was usually poured over his big sisters.

While Sam took that in stride, Roxanne and Julia paid Remus back in pranks. Remus adored them, because they wouldn't treat him like an invalid.

"Bet you anything, he'll be in Gryffindor!" Julia said one Sunday morning at the breakfast the family liked to share when Remus was nine.

There was abrupt silence around the table. Julia looked up, saw the sad expression on her parents' faces and asked:

"Did I say something wrong?"

Remus looked down on his plate stoically, saying nothing, but Julia detected a few tears on his cheeks.

"What?" she asked again and stroked Remus' cheek.

"Remus won't be able to go to Hogwarts..." Richard finally said in a small voice.

"What? Why not? He's a magical child! Just because he's a werewolf? Is that the reason?"

Venetia nodded sadly.

"We've inquired carefully with the Registry and the school governors. The Registry sees no reason why he should not go, the school governors don't really see one either, especially with his spotless record, but when we asked Dippet we were practically thrown out of his office," Richard explained, "and it's Dippet who decides."

"Oh no! I'm so sorry, Remus! I didn't know that! I can't believe that anyone can be so mean to you. You're only a child!"

"We've tried to reason, that he can be detained during the full moons, but he belongs to the sort of people who are more than prejudiced. If it were for him he'd not even let Muggle-born children into the school and he barely tolerates half-bloods," Venetia said.

Her voice sounded pressed. She was still seething from the conversation they had with the headmaster. She had told him what she thought of him in the end and that was not nice.

Their inquiries at Beauxbatons had been just as fruitless. No school wanted to take a werewolf, no matter how spotless his record was. Remus had fallen into a depression upon learning that he was not allowed to go to any magical school. He would be allowed training at home but it was nowhere near the kind of education his parents wished for him to have.

Then he turned eleven and barely two months after his birthday Armando Dippet died suddenly of old age. The school governors and the Wizengamot appointed Deputy Headmaster Albus Dumbledore to be Dippet's successor. Dumbledore found a replacement for his Transfigurations classes in an old friend and former student, Minerva McGonagall. Minerva also took on the Deputy Headmistress' job and the head of Gryffindor, both of which Albus vacated as well.

One of his first tasks was taking out the Hogwarts Book of Names, where the enchanted quill noted all births of magical children and looking for children who were supposed to start their Hogwarts education the next year, because he knew that there was at least one who had not received a letter yet. He had tried to reason with Dippet on Remus' behalf, but his superior would have none of it. Albus sighed and had Minerva prepare the letter to the boy.

"But Albus! The boy is a werewolf!" she said.

"And so?"

"It's not that I would deny the child an education, but think of the other children! Think of the parents of the other children! I'm sure that many parents would take their children out of the school if they knew that we admitted such a creature."

"That is why we will keep it a secret. - Minerva, I already have an idea of how to keep the castle, the children and the staff safe when Remus Lupin has to transform. I plan to meet the young man personally before I give him the letter. I've met his parents before, they're wonderful people and I know they have been extremely distressed by the fact that Armando did not want to accept their son to school. Besides, they had talked to the Registry and the School Governors before and neither institution was opposing the idea. It was really only Dippet. If Remus is anything like his four older siblings he'll be a very good student, Minerva."

"Oh. Alright. If you have ideas about that, then I'm fine with it, Albus. What house were his older siblings? Have they left already, I don't know of any student by the name of Lupin..."

"Yes, they are considerably older. There is a twelve year gap between Remus and his older sister. The oldest son was a Hufflepuff, one daughter was in Ravenclaw and the two younger daughters were Gryffindors. And there are two more boys after Remus."

Minerva smiled.

"Anything possible then."

"Definitely anything. If you would hand me the boy's letter when you are done with it, then I will talk to Richard Lupin first before giving it to Remus."

"Certainly, Albus! Richard Lupin as in the head of the DMLE?"

"Precisely."

"Ah. I'll have the letter ready for you in a few minutes…"

In the afternoon of a cold grey winter day Albus Dumbledore left his office, an admittance letter for Remus Lupin in his pocket, to have a short conversation with Richard Lupin. He was welcomed at the Department by Richard's secretary who told him, that the Head of the Department was not available.

"I can wait for a while, Rhiannon. Do I remember you as a Hufflepuff student who left Hogwarts, let me see, if I remember this right... 1958, is that right?"

"That's right, Professor. - I will see, what I can do, but Mr. Lupin is in a team meeting at the moment. It could take another hour or so."

"Then be so kind and ask him to give me ten minutes only. It is about his son Remus."

"Okay."

The secretary got up after asking Albus to take a seat. She went to the conference room and interrupted the meeting to ask Richard back to her office.

"It's Professor Dumbledore, sir, he says it's about your son Remus and would only take about ten minutes."

Richard's ears perked up and he said:

"We'll take a break and continue in fifteen minutes. I'll be right back!"

He followed Rhiannon back to her office and greeted Dumbledore. Being a member of the Wizengamot he knew that Dumbledore had taken over as the new Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"Professor! How nice to see you again!" he said and shook hands with Dumbledore.

"Richard! Surely you have left Hogwarts long enough by now to call me Albus!"

"Fine, Albus, I'll do that gladly. Rhiannon said you wanted to see me because of Remus?"

Richard showed Albus to his office and offered him a seat. Albus pulled the letter out of his pocket, before he sat down and replied:

"Do you think your son would like to receive this letter? I had tried to argue with Dippet about accepting Remus to Hogwarts, but he would have nothing of it."

Richard sighed.

"We tried everything, Albus, but he wouldn't budge. Remus has accepted not to go to Hogwarts, but he's still very depressed about it. He's a very talented boy and I'm quite sure he'd make a good student. He has a solid mind in that little head of his and loves to learn. And I have the suspicion that there is quite a lot of magical power inside of him as well."

"I am quite sure he will take the chance then. So, if you would like to warn your wife I would like to pay her and young Remus a visit."

"Now?"

"Now."

"Good. Let me give her a fire call then."

That done, Albus apparated to the Lupins' house directly from the Ministry. He knocked on the door, which was opened after a moment by a little boy who looked barely older than eight to Albus.

"Hello!" the boy said.

"Good afternoon, young master. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I'd like to have a word with your mother. Would you call her?"

"Please come in! I'll call her right away."

The boy opened the door wider and let Dumbledore in.

'Very polite child,' Albus thought and wondered if that was Remus or possibly one of his younger brothers.

Venetia turned up immediately and welcomed him, leading him to the family room.

"It's such a cold day, would you join us for tea, Professor?"

"Thank you, Venetia, I would not turn down a cup! And please, call me Albus."

"I'll be right back with the tea, Albus!"

Venetia went to the kitchen, put a tray with biscuits and five cups together and added a pot of tea. Then she went back to the family room and called for Remus, Rupert and Rowland.

"Remus, come inside here for tea, please!"

The boy came back into the family room, his two little brothers in tow, looking a bit shy and sat down on an armchair next to his mother. He looked at the visitor out of the corner of his eyes.

"No need to be shy, Remus, this is Professor Albus Dumbledore. Albus, this is Remus."

"I am pleased to meet you, young Mr. Lupin. I have come to see you."

"Are you the same Professor Dumbledore who was my siblings' Transfigurations teacher?" Remus asked with interest and added: "Sir?"

Dumbledore smiled and confirmed that.

"That is precisely who I am."

"Oh," was all Remus could reply.

He took the cup from his mother who added a chocolate biscuit and then his face wasn't seen for a while. He looked down on his cup and nibbled on the biscuit.

"Hogwarts is a bit of a sad subject in front of Remus. You probably know why, Albus."

"Yes, I do know why. But never give up hope, Remus, because as I said, I came to see you. Look, what I have for you here! It might be the remedy to your heartache."

Remus looked up, just in time to see the Professor pull a letter from his robes, which he handed over to the boy. Venetia caught his cup in time before it shattered on the floor and placed it on the table. Remus stared at the letter, then he looked up to Dumbledore and asked, just to make sure:

"Is that letter really for me?"

"Yes, as far as I know it has your name on the envelope. You should open it, Remus."

Remus stared at the envelope for a moment longer. Mr. R.J. Lupin, Cub's Den, Halford House, Wales. His name, his address, even the nickname of his room. He smiled, but it quickly vanished as he opened the letter with trembling hands. Both adults watched him, his mother with baited breath. He carefully put the envelope on the table and unfolded the letter. Then he began to read. His face brightened immediately and by the time he turned to the second sheet he was beaming.

"Is that really true?" he whispered.

"Yes, Remus, that is really true. I can see that this means a lot to you?"

Remus nodded.

"Now, I take it that you would like to come to Hogwarts, would you not?"

Another nod. Eager this time.

"Very well. Then we will have to think of something to keep you and your fellow students as well as the staff safe on the nights of the full moon. I am sure I will come up with something that will serve all concerned parties."

Remus finally looked up again and asked shakily:

"Will the others know that I'm a werewolf?"

"No. Only the staff will know and whoever you want to entrust with your secret. All else will not know."

Remus sighed, relieved.

After a nice conversation with Venetia Dumbledore took his leave. He returned to Hogwarts and called Poppy Pomfrey, the school's nurse to his office and explained her about Remus and what she would have to do for the boy once he started his schooling the next year.

"I suggest you contact Venetia Lupin and learn what she does for her son. I hear there is quite a lot he needs after a transformation. It would be nice if you met them before he comes to school."

"Oh, that poor child! Yes, I'll owl her and then we'll go from there."

The first owl was followed by a meeting of the two ladies. One of her daughters watched over the three boys so Venetia could go to Hogwarts and talk with Poppy. The two ladies found common grounds immediately and a friendship was formed almost on the spot. Poppy promised to come and meet Remus after the next full moon night.

Remus was in seventh heaven of happiness. Dumbledore had noticed right away that getting a chance for an education meant the world to him. The boy had glowed of happiness when he got the letter. When he was shown what had been planned for his transformations he accepted everything with only a few small questions and then he couldn't wait to go to Hogwarts.

_Harry was drawn to find Sirius, who was in line for his Hogwarts letter as well. He watched as the primly dressed boy sat studying in the library at Grimmauld Place, something he wouldn't have believed from his Godfather's usual exuberant character, but here he sat, demurely, as he did every day studying with his specially assigned tutor and alongside his younger brother Regulus. Harry had been back and forth with all Marauders and Lily over the years and he knew that the prim look Sirius presented hid much of what his parents did to him. He wasn't always this docile; usually he did what he pleased. But whenever his mother caught him she punished him most severely. _

In spite of the different treatment his brother got from his parents Sirius liked Regulus, who was only a year younger than himself. They were often left to themselves and played together. Those were the occasions when Uncle Alphard made his appearances, and he gave them what their parents didn't, affection and an idea of love. As he didn't 'tell' but 'showed' them they took it from him and believed his example much more than their parents, even Regulus who otherwise didn't oppose his parents nearly as much as Sirius did. Sirius didn't hold it against his brother. He couldn't wait for his Hogwarts letter to arrive and when it came Sirius started to think of the freedom he'd have at the school. He secretly plotted to go anywhere but Slytherin, just to be free of his parents' influence. He'd studied the school's bylaws and rules intensively, so he knew what he could expect if he was able to avoid Slytherin House.

His mother had to take him to Diagon Alley to get his wand. The family's preferred magical tailor was called to the house to fit his robes. Sirius was glad that it wasn't trimmed in green even though his mother had commanded it. The rest of the equipment was bought by the house-elves.

_Harry moved to his mother's place to see how she reacted to the confirmation of her special abilities. When the letter came to her it was in the Muggle post and was swiftly followed by a visit from Professor McGonagall, who informed the family what it meant to have a magical child._

"I always knew you were a freak! You did all you did with that unnaturalness! That's why no one ever liked me once they knew you! I hate you!" screamed Petunia before she ran from the room, leaving perplexed parents, an embarrassed Professor and a much less concerned sister behind.

Marie Rose got up and excused herself.

"Please, keep telling my husband what you need to say, I would not want to hold you up longer than necessary, Professor. I'll go and talk with my older daughter."

Minerva nodded and started to explain to Lily and her father what that letter was all about. Lily looked up to her father and admitted:

"I knew – but I never did believe what Severus said, Dad… he said he was one himself, but he didn't want to prove it. So I kept thinking he was just telling me nonsense and that's why I never told you or Mum."

"That's alright, Lily. It doesn't matter now, does it? Question is: do you want to pursue that education?"

"I think so – it seems pretty special to me! What would happen if I said no, Professor?"

"You would be obliviated, which means that all of the things you already know about your magic would be removed from your memory and your magic would be bound. But to be honest the only two cases I've had who did that willingly didn't live to adulthood! Magic is an incredibly strong force and my personal experience is that it's strongest in those born to families with no magic at all! You are bound to be much more powerful than many purebloods who have weakened their own physique and their magic by marrying too close relatives. Inbreeding is the certain path to weakening the magic in a family. I never recommend declining the invitation after having seen those two children struggle. Out of personal interest I kept tabs on them and it was horrible to witness. But it was their parents' decision. I do, however, recommend letting the children decide themselves."

Frederick Evans was shocked. He did feel a bit pressured, but he certainly didn't want to lose his beloved little girl before she was an adult! Lily had always been headstrong and she usually had good sense, so he replied:

"Yes, I think that's the sensible thing to do. I don't want to lose you, Lily; I really couldn't hold that over your head…"

"I'll do it, Dad! I can still do some subjects for O-levels, what do you think, Professor? I wanted to study at the university one day, so I would like to achieve something equivalent to your education in the ordinary school…"

Minerva was impressed by the quick-mindedness of this girl. Lily sounded very mature for her age. She explained the classes Lily would be taught at Hogwarts and told her that she would have to study the Muggle subjects on her own, though she could offer some assistance with her English and history courses. Frederick said:

"If you're serious about doing the course on your own you can always go to a summer school course to assist you."

"I'll see how it goes, dad. So, what's to do now for us?"

"Shopping, little miss! You'll need to be shown the magical shopping district in London and you can also attend a more general orientation seminar there. It will be held at Diagon Alley in the second half of August next year and I'll send you an invitation, which will help you to get into the Alley on your own. Now, there are important things I need to tell you – there is a reason why you have never before heard of the magical community in this country. There is the so-called Statute of Secrecy, which has been agreed on by the magical and Muggle communities in 1692, followed by the installation of the Ministry of Magic in 1700. The Ministry governs all aspects of our lives, from police to finance, and its largest department right after the police, which we call the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is still the department concerned with maintaining that statute. If you wish to get more information I have here a list of publications you might want to peruse for your personal interest. I do recommend to have a look around the bookshop when you visit the Alley for the first time and take home what informational publications you wish and maybe to subscribe to at least one magical newspaper. There are several for you to choose from and you can get information about them at the bookshop. You might also wish to read up on wizarding customs and traditions. Finally, I have to tell you that you have to keep all such publications out of the view of your non-magical visitors. You may, of course, inform your nearest family, i.e. the grand-parents of your child and your immediate siblings if you wish to do that, but it is in your responsibility to maintain that they do not talk about it to third parties. We usually recommend telling your friends and family that your daughter is at a prestigious school for the gifted somewhere in Scotland. Hogwarts, by the way, is actually situated in Scotland. The castle sits on a cliff above the Loch Achray, north of Glasgow."

_Harry followed Professor McGonagall's explanations with rapt interest. He naturally compared this visit with Hagrid's gruff explanations of the barest minimum and an added 'I'm not really the right person to tell you this…' and thought that he had been cheated out of most of the information he needed for an informed decision on almost every step of his life since discovering he was a wizard. _

_While Harry followed the different receptions of the Hogwarts letters amongst the Marauders and Lily he also read over the shoulders of the wizards what the newspaper reported of the Death Eater activities throughout the time he was still non-existent as a person. The first time he found the term 'Death Eaters' mentioned was around 1967, when someone mentioned them in an article about a horrible attack on the house of a Muggle-born wizard and his family. The wizard had done quite well for himself and enjoyed new wealth from a good business. Harry thought that he must have been a thorn in the eye of one of the upper echelons of the Death Eater society, maybe he treaded in the territory of one of the less successful ones, so they naturally got him out of the way first. It was mentioned that they branded the wife, who was a pure-blooded witch, as a 'blood traitor' who needed to be punished for lowering herself to marrying a Mudblood._

_Harry knew that from then on he'd read more and more articles about these attacks. The terms 'Death Eater' and 'blood traitor' quickly vanished from the papers again though; obviously even the Daily Prophet reporters were too frightened to use them anymore. He did read the name Voldemort once or twice before it was replaced with the ominous You-Know-Who. He wondered if he would be able to influence his parents while they were growing up, so far he had never even tried, but that thought was nixed in his head by his death preventer quite strictly. Not only he couldn't, he was forbidden to do anything, he was to be a strict observer._

'_Okay, okay, but I'm afraid that…"_

'_No need to be afraid, young man, remember that I told you that Fate herself has taken possession of Dumbledore's head? He'll have a completely different mind-set this time around!'_

'_Oh! Completely went out of my head, sorry!'_

'_It doesn't matter, young Harry, it's already been a few years, anyone who had to pick up this mass of information as a spirit is allowed to forget the odd thing.'_

_It was the first time that Harry was contacted by his DP. He wasn't too unhappy about it, for over ten years he had no one to talk to, only himself. He didn't even know if he would be able to form words earlier than he would have in his past life. After all, he hadn't used his vocal cords and his mouth for many years. _

_On the other hand he now was aware that he had already 'floated' around for many years and had never noticed how quick that time had passed. He just took a deep breath and thought that he didn't really mind. In truth time seemed to pass him by as if he lived in fast motion. He took in individual events but never really thought of the time that passed. Very soon he found himself watching his Dad at eleven years of age jumping up and down with the Hogwarts letter in his hands._

"It's there, it's there, it's finally there, Mum, Dad! I've got my Hogwarts letter!" James screamed at the top of his lungs, running around the big manor house excitedly. Even the two house-elves laughed and danced with him as he passed through the kitchen. He showed them the letter, too! Everyone had of course known that this letter would reach James on his eleventh birthday, but like most other magical children in magical households it was still something special to receive the letter.

_All of the children had now received their letters, but Harry was moved most by the way Remus had reacted. This child had everything a child could want, but he had been humbled through his horrible affliction and was always well-mannered and modest. His obvious reverence of that letter and what it meant to him was clearly visible. He had also been touched when he saw how Peter took hold of his letter. The boy held it up and wondered aloud if he really did have any magical ability at all! He had been regarded as a near squib. He obviously scratched together just enough magical power to receive a Hogwarts letter, but Harry wondered if he wasn't much stronger than he believed to be._

_He loved to see the excitement in the children when they finally went shopping for their school materials, especially Lily, who was almost dancing through the Leaky Cauldron. Minerva had sent her invitation to the orientation as promised and Marie Rose showed the letter to the barkeeper Tom, who smiled brightly at the excited young witch._

"Yes, I will let you through to the Alley, just walk down the main alley to the first split to the left, it's the third entrance on the right hand side of that street. You'll be welcomed there, Mrs Evans."

"Thank you very much. This is all so foreign to me…"

"Not for a long time, I assure you. Just let your daughter tell you all about her life here and you'll stay tuned."

"Thank you very much…"

"Tom – just Tom. Here we are. This looks very shabby, but we do have the odd Muggle passing through here who isn't aware of our world and they will soon leave if they find themselves in this horrid little backyard."

"I can see your reason."

"Now watch me, little Miss, next time you can do this with your own wand. Though if you've forgotten how just tell one of us at the bar, we'll be happy to help you."

Mother and daughter stood with open mouths as the Alley was opened to them. They smiled at Tom and thanked him kindly. He reminded them to the way to the orientation and they set off, seeing more than one other family on their way there.

_Harry observed the orientation closely, because he was curious as to how this was panned out. He found that as usual there were loads of things the wizards never understood properly about the Muggles, but overall it gave the future Hogwarts students and their parents a good overview over the magical government, the shopping areas, Hogwarts as a school in general, the subjects taught at Hogwarts, the legal consequences and many other aspects. Harry had never learned (except for the hard way in some cases) about any of those things. He had always assumed that Hermione knew due to her excessive reading, but now he understood that she had the benefit of this seminar, where she already heard the basics of what she later read up._

_Not only did the lecturers, in this case one member of the Wizarding Education Authority, one member of the legal department at the DMLE from the Ministry, and Minerva as well as one of the school governors from Hogwarts, pass essential and diverse information verbally, but they also handed parchment lists of extra reading material, which would help integrating the newly minted witches and wizards into the magical world. The consequences should a child not wish to go to Hogwarts were also shown. It was understandable that out of this batch of parents none wanted to have anyone play with their minds!_

After the official orientation was over the different Ministry and Hogwarts representatives split the families amongst them to take them on the shopping trip to be able to spread a bit wider across the alley after they were all shown the procedures at Gringotts. Harry naturally followed his mum, who was bouncing on her feet of excitement. Her parents had gladly signed her up for school. Harry could clearly see that his grandparents really seemed to dote on their lovely, bright daughter and in a way he could understand Petunia resenting her sister to the point she did. He still thought that this didn't give her the right to treat himself as she had done.

The rest of the day was filled with all the shopping and by the time they got home, Lily could hardly stand upright anymore. Harry watched sadly how Petunia sneered and put down all the things that had been bought to equip her younger sister. Lily was too tired to protest; she simply put her new school trunk in her room with all her new belongings inside and went straight to bed. Petunia on the other hand soon joined her parents at dinner and asked grumpily:

"And just how much did you spend on her this time?"

"Petunia! We bought what was on her list of supplies and a few extra books. That was all. How about I take you shopping next weekend?" her mother said.

"Without Lily?"

"Only you, sweetie."

"Okay."

_Harry closed is eyes - or he would have, if he'd had a body. He thought his aunt was already a penny-pincher when she was 15! In later years she'd never spent a penny too much unless the result of the spending could be seen by the neighbours and other visitors and of course she never saved on all the stuff she bought for Dudley. Harry often thought he'd never have begrudged Dudley all his gifts as strongly if she hadn't taken every opportunity to tell him that freaks didn't get any presents and never deserved any. How would little Harry have been able to understand what he'd done to deny him every attention, love or little gift?_

_He didn't want to think back, but forward. He wondered where he would see things start diverging from the original path and whether at all he would be able to even recognise them. He mused about what his DP had said about Fate setting herself inside Dumbledore's brain to influence his actions. That should be fun, he thought!_


	3. 02 - Off to School

Chapter 2 - Off to School!

_Harry made the roundtrip again through the families he observed, but for once found himself in a strange surrounding. The house was poor, but fairly neat, but it held an exceptionally angry man, who scowled at his wife and a visibly shaking child, which Harry instantly recognised. It was an eleven years old Severus Snape, who looked exactly the same as the adult, just smaller. There was the sallow, thin face surrounded by greasy and long black hair that Harry would have recognised everywhere. Harry watched how he asked his father whether he'd come along to the station, but Snape Sr's only reply was a slap on the face of the child and another on the face on his wife, followed by a few swift kicks that must have left horrible bruises on her. Harry was not too surprised as he had seen a few of Snape's memories._

_In hindsight Harry wondered how with such horrible childhood experiences Snape's *worst* memory could be the taunting he got from the Marauders! Okay, it was very embarrassing and the people around him, even Slytherins, had enjoyed torturing him extra, but that could not possibly have been worse than what Snape had to do for Voldemort and the treatment he got from his father. Harry supposed that maybe Snape was so used to his father's beatings that he never even lost a thought about them anymore. That still left the raids he had to join and the killings in which he had to partake._

_By the time mother and son reached King's Cross Station they were both acting the haughty purebloods. Mrs Snape doted on Severus and sent him to the train, where he sat alone and read. _

_How different was the way James and Remus were sent off to the train. They actually weren't that far away from each other; Harry saw them on the platform, just two carriages of the train separating the future friends. He looked around through the throngs of people at the station. Had he thought it was full when he went to school? THIS here was full! The last year of the 50s baby boomers were sent off to school and there were many, many children in all seven age groups. Even the number of prefects was larger than what he was used, one glance at their gathering showed him that there were three per house for fifth, sixth and seventh years, and the head girl and head boy extra on top of the set of prefects._

Remus was accompanied to the train by his complete family, who saw to it that he was settled comfortably in a compartment and all wished him a good trip and a great start.

"You'll do great, cub! And you'll love it there, just don't hide yourself too much, will you?" Richard Jr. told Remus.

"I'll try, okay?"

"Very good! I want to see some owls now and then, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Don't forget to tell us everything about Hogwarts you can so we'll be as well prepared as you are, Remy!" cried Rowland.

"Will do, to both of you," Remus promised, smiling.

Two carriages further, Dorea and Charlus Potter said goodbye to their only child. Dorea hardly wanted to let the boy go, but she took a determined step back from James and told him:

"You'll do fine, James, I'm sure. Find a good balance between work and fun and we'll be very happy with you. I enjoyed Hogwarts a lot, it gave me confidence and happiness…"

Dorea smiled at her husband, who grinned back.

"Don't let Madam McGonagall have to send the first owl about any misbehaviour before at least a week has passed, young man, that would be stretching the limit of my love of fun a bit, understand?"

"At least a week, Dad! I'll try my best. What was your record for detentions in first year again?"

The elder Potters laughed.

"You won't enjoy detention so much, dear, try to avoid them if you can. The best thing is still not to get caught," suggested his mother sagely.

"Still need to find a few companions, but I'm sure that I will do once I get Sorted. And I hope I can get Siri to join me."

"Yes, you will! Hogwarts lets no one down in that department. Remember, you do get a word in edgewise when you're Sorted. Make your wishes known and why and you'll find yourself in a good house. Let Sirius know, too, James, will you?" said Dorea.

With these words the elder Potters left the compartment where they had stowed James' trunk under the seat. They were just turning out of it when they saw through the window that the Blacks had arrived. As usual they made an impressive entrance, or at least they thought they did. James (and Harry, the silent observer) saw how they passed Eileen Snape and sneered at her. The disgraced Prince woman just pushed her nose in the air and left through the barrier. The Blacks, with four children amongst them, stood themselves in front of the train and sent the three Hogwarts students to the train, while Regulus, still too young, had to remain on the platform. Narcissa had Bellatrix on the hand, while Sirius strode confidently to the train, got in and never looked back out again. The house-elf deposited his trunk right before him on the train. Sirius said:

"Thanks, Kreacher. Go home now."

Then he took the trunk, never looked back whether his cousins followed, and went for the search of his distant cousin, James. So far they had only ever met at formal functions, but they had liked each other fine and Sirius definitely preferred him to the friends his parents thought more suitable. Not that anything unsuitable could be said about the pure-blooded James Potter, a fairly close relative at that. Sirius found him three compartments into the carriage and when he opened the door he met up with his cousin quicker than Narcissa and Bellatrix could follow him. Once they had said hello James didn't wait long to give Sirius the hint about the Sorting he got from his mother.

_Harry drifted around the train still at the station and soon found his mum. Lily was alone on the platform, as her Muggle relatives were unable to cross the barrier. She had her trunk and the carrier with her owl on the caddy. When she saw how high the steps into the train were she began to worry, but as she was just close to where the prefects stood she was discovered quickly. One of the prefects saw her and came over, introduced herself and then carefully levitated Lily's things into the carriage. _

"Thanks!" said Lily and followed her luggage.

"Some people let their owls fly on their own wings to Hogwarts, but yours looks quite young, so maybe you shouldn't let it out just yet."

"That's fine, I'll let her out once I've settled down."

"You seem to be a first year? Would you like to find me a few others for you to sit with?"

"Oh, that would be great…"

"There's still enough time before the prefect meeting starts, so come on, we'll find you some friends."

Lily was led through the train, until the prefect spotted a compartment where there was free space and where obviously three other first years sat. Lily was welcome to stay and found her seat next to the door.

_Harry marvelled at the train. It was at least two carriages longer than what he was used. There were so many more children in this school year he began to wonder just how many of these children had not made it through the next eleven years of Voldemort's terror. He fervently hoped that the changes Fate planned for Dumbledore would have an impact on these children, and that none of them, or at least only very few of them would perish. He went on the lookout for his father and found him happily getting to know Sirius better. The two were hitting off splendidly with each other._

"How come you were looking for me, Sirius? We only ever met at those 'important' gatherings…"

"Easy! You were one of the few my parents could not forbid me to see - you know, the whole pureblood rubbish - but they wouldn't let me invite you because the Potters, while socially indisputable, were not likely to be seen at House Black. But I thought once I get to Hogwarts we could become friends?"

"I certainly don't mind. But my parents think I'm trouble on two legs, well, pranking trouble on two legs, what if you get in trouble because of me? I wouldn't want you to get in trouble with your folks, you know…"

"Don't really care, so no worries. They don't care for me in any case. I'm only glad they never forbade entry to the house to my Uncle Alphard. He was my carer so far, my mother's brother. I think your mum is Mother's and Uncle Alphard's aunt…"

"That makes us cousins, yay! I never noticed. Mum never said anything. But I think she's not so thick with her family."

"I'm glad she's not been kicked out… they can do that, kick out family members, you know! My mother just loves to be that kind of rude."

_For a while Harry watched his father and his godfather as they talked about this and that. It didn't take James very long to corrupt Sirius into pranking someone. Sirius promptly offered his cousins as a target. James dug into his trunk and brought some stink pellets out that he thought they could plant in Narcissa's or Bellatrix's trunk. Sirius called the two girls out of their compartment and distracted them while James quickly entered the compartment and deposited the pellets. Then they returned to their own compartment and laughed themselves silly. Harry grinned. Yes, he thought, that would be a good start to the upcoming Marauders Pranking Company. He moved on and searched for Remus._

Remus was alone in his compartment for the better part of the trip. He didn't mind at all, as he had something to read which kept him happy and occupied enough. He got changed to the school robes and had just finished that when two boys stormed into his compartment.

"Sorry, do you mind if we hide out here for a while?" they asked and giggled.

He looked at them. Both seemed to be around his age, even if both of them were considerably taller.

"No, I don't mind," he said, "why do you need to hide?"

"Oh, we just planted some stink pellets in the trunks of Sirius' evil cousins. Now they're on a rampage. I'm sure they'll turn up here soon, but I've got something to hide us. You just need to say you're alone!" one of the boys replied.

"Who's Sirius?" Remus asked.

"That would be me. Sirius Black. What's your name?"

Sirius held out his hand and Remus took it.

"Remus Lupin."

"You look too small for a first year. But you are a first year, aren't you?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, I am. You too?"

"Yep!"

While Sirius still stared at Remus with wondering eyes, the other boy pulled a silvery piece of fabric out of his pocket and said:

"Come on, Siri, there's no time for flirting, let's get hidden!"

He covered both of them with the fabric and Remus' eyes widened as he saw them vanish. From underneath he heard the other boy's voice:

"By the way, I'm James Potter. You're not going to give us away, will you?"

"No, I won't, but if you don't want to give yourself away then you should shut up!"

"Will do!"

The 'evil cousins' came and passed and passed again, but the two boys weren't visible, so they left. For the rest of the trip Sirius and James stayed under the Invisibility Cloak, but finally they left to gather their stuff and Remus only saw them again from far when they left the train and were called over to Hagrid, who took them across the lake. Remus wasn't near the two boys at the Sorting, but he watched as the Hat took quite some time to deliberate, before Sirius was sent to Gryffindor. To his astonishment he saw that all the teachers ware staring after Sirius, whose cousin Bellatrix had just been sorted to Slytherin. All the Slytherins seemed similarly perplexed.

_Harry was even more astonished, because he was able to hear the whole conversation between the Sorting Hat and Sirius:_

_"Hello, there! Looks like your mind reflects the brightness of your name, young Heir of Black."_

_"Really? I like to learn, that means I won't have difficulties to learn, doesn't it?"_

_"You'll still have to work though, little man. Where would you like to be placed?"_

_"You're asking me? I thought we were just simply placed! I would like to be placed where you usually place the Potters."_

_"Gryffindor then. Are you sure? I'm only asking you because you have qualities for all four houses, you see! You could be a Slytherin if you liked, because there's a good amount of ambition in you and the cunning to back it up is there, too. Good for Slytherin. But I find that your mind reflects loyalty and readiness to do what's needed, which would point you to Hufflepuff. A freshly discovered sense of mischief and a healthy portion of courage coupled with the afore mentioned loyalty sends you straight to Gryffindor. Ravenclaw would not really suit you well, though you're bright enough to go there, but you probably won't like learning for learning's sake…"_

_"Gryffindor, please?" Sirius asked in his mind._

_"Sure, hop off and join GRYFFINDOR!"_

Sirius seemed astonished himself, but he dropped the hat on the stool and confidently walked over to the Gryffindor table, where he wasn't welcomed especially warmly even though the Gryffindors usually welcomed theirs with great enthusiasm and even more noise. He didn't seem to care though and followed the Sorting with interest. Two girls (Lily Evans and Roseanne Gosford) were sorted into Gryffindor and then it was Remus' turn. He put the hat on his head. It whistled.

_Harry was able to hear the conversation with his mother and Remus as well. Though there wasn't much the Hat even said to his mother, just: _

_"I know what to do with you, dear child: GRYFFINDOR!"_

_But it said a good deal more to Remus:_

"Well, hello there, young master Lupin. I've already had the pleasure to sort four siblings of yours, I thought I was through with your family."

"There's two more after me. But it will take a while," Remus thought.

"Ah, well. Now, what to do with you? All of your siblings were difficult to place, you know? You're a bunch of highly individual people, oh yes, you are! But there is plenty of potential in your head, you do like to learn, don't you?"

"I do. I love to read."

"And you are so very brave to face this school and the great handicap of your life... is that a bit of mischief I detect there? Hm. Now it gets easier. I think you'd be perfectly well placed in GRYFFINDOR!"

Remus grinned when he pulled the hat off his head and joined the table to a great amount of applause. He sat down next to Sirius.

"Hey there, Remus! Wouldn't have thought to be in the same house as you are, but I think it's great!"

"Hi Sirius. I'm happy to be here. Would have liked Ravenclaw, too, but this is just fine."

"Your family in Ravenclaw?"

"My mother and sister. Dad's been in Gryffindor."

"You have a sister here?"

"Left Hogwarts. I'm a late arrival in the family."

"Oh."

"And you? Happy to be here or would you have preferred another house?"

"'m not sure yet. They don't seem to like me very much. You've got a much better welcome. Though I wanted Gryffindor."

"I was wondering why..."

"Well, I'm sure it's because I'm a Black."

"And?" Remus asked, puzzled.

"They're all Slytherins. You saw my cousin before..."

"Bellatrix? That's your cousin?"

"Unfortunately. She's a real pest. She's sitting there, next to her older sister Narcissa."

"So you would have liked to be in Slytherin?"

"No! I'm glad I'm not one of them. As I said just now I wanted Gryffindor. My 'home' is enough of a dungeon, I don't need that at school on top of that. I hear Gryffindor is somewhere up in the castle."

Remus nodded.

"Yes, it's in a tower. Dad loved it!"

"Sounds great."

"They'll get used to you. I mean, as long as you don't go and hex them all the time they'll learn to know you, won't they? Besides, as you just said you wanted to be here, so you probably also belong here."

"I hope so. I was glad enough to escape from home."

"So how do you know James? Did you just meet on the train?"

"He's a distant cousin. His mum is a great-aunt of mine, so we've known each other for a long time. Not that my folks really liked my friendship with him, the Potters are notoriously light… they wouldn't have let us meet up outside of the official functions where we met."

"I suppose my father knows James' - I think Mr. Potter's an Auror, right?"

"Yep - then that would make your father, James' dad's boss, wouldn't it? The head of the DMLE's called Lupin, is that your father?"

"That's right. But I think he's on good terms with most of the Aurors."

"So you have an older sister then?"

"Three older sisters, all out of Hogwarts already, and the oldest in the family is another boy. And finally I have two younger brothers."

"Wow! Seven! Lucky number!" said James cheerfully, just as he joined the table.

"I only have a younger brother. He's Mother's favourite, but we still get along fine," said Sirius.

The four boys that had been Sorted into Gryffindor quickly warmed up to each other and their friendship developed to a really close relationship over the next few years. The closest were definitely Remus and Sirius though. Their relationship blossomed into something much stronger by the time they reached their fifth year. Remus only regretted that he wasn't able to invite Sirius to his home over the summer breaks, because Sirius' parents made sure he was safely inside of their house, almost locked up during all vacations.

They had been so angry at Sirius' Sorting into Gryffindor that they closed off all contacts for him outside of school.

_Harry followed their path, never stopping to smile! How happy these four had been, even though they often clashed with Lily, they got along with the girls in their year and most houses as well. There was never more than friendly rivalry, the kind Harry could only dream of having had in his years at Hogwarts. Lily was good friends with a girl in her dorm, Darielle Sanchez, and she was also close to several girls in Ravenclaw, one of them, Hope Foster, could be called amongst her best friends. Her other best friend was Alice Pritchard, a Hufflepuff two years ahead of her, who was her study buddy at first, and soon became one of her closest friends. With the five other girls in her dorm she also got along well._

_For five years he observed how the Marauders took reign of the castle, he saw their best and their worst, he could finally form his own opinion about the treatment Snape got from the four Gryffindors. In many cases their bullying of Snape happened after someone had suffered Snape's less than savoury attacks. Most of what the Marauders did to him was embarrassing, but they never actually touched Severus. The infamous 'worst memory' as Harry had come to see it in the Pensieve in his fifth year happened at the end of the OWLS exams in their fifth year. Harry looked on, not really pleased about the Marauders' motivation and thinking that Remus as the prefect handled it a bit very nonchalantly, but he could see where they were coming from. What astonished Harry at this point was the obvious consent with the Marauders' actions from members of all four houses at Hogwarts! There were Lily's friends, especially those from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff, quite a substantial group of Slytherins and of course the Gryffindors who all agreed that Snape deserved to be embarrassed. Harry had seen a few scenes with Snape already where the boy 'practiced' his hexes on younger students, by far not only Gryffindors. Some of them were clearly harassed on a regular basis. Harry could never fully determine when it had started, but it was early on when Snape felt aggravated by a second year Gryffindor girl and hit her with a stinging hex from behind. From then on Harry knew what Sirius had meant when he had told him, Hermione and Ron that Snape always gave as good as he got._

For five years the boys were close friends. Just before the end of their fifth year Sirius inherited half of the fortune of his uncle Alphard's. He needed to cut his family off from putting their hands on his inheritance and managed with the help of his uncle's lawyers. But this led to a huge row between Sirius and his parents. Sirius broke all ties with his family and left his home with his possessions. He went straight to James.

_Harry had always wondered what the catalyst for Sirius' flight from his home was. He could easily understand that preventing his parents to take his inheritance away from him was quite a substantial reason to leave. _

The Potters didn't even ask questions; when Sirius turned up on their doorstep they took him in, pampered him until he stopped shaking and only then they gently started to find out what had happened at Grimmauld Place. Sirius told them:

"They were outraged because Uncle Alphard left a lot of money to me and Andromeda. Well, they tried to get their hands on my part of the inheritance and I sought help from Uncle Alphard's lawyers. Anyway, they couldn't take it away from me and the will also stated that it was to come to my full use as soon as I got it. Then they tried to force me to give them the vault key, but I left the Gringotts key at the lawyers to make sure they couldn't do exactly that. And all of that made them slightly miffed at me... It's not that they need it, but I think they simply didn't want me to have it because it makes me independent."

James snorted. He wasn't the only Potter who could easily translate 'slightly miffed' to 'absolutely pissed off'. It was Dorea's turn to be 'slightly miffed'.

"You mean they were in a murderous mood, don't you?" he asked.

"Well, yes, at least close. Father thought it was enough if he hexed me around a bit. When I wouldn't back down he picked up some help. And then they started screaming at me that I would never become a proper follower of the Dark Lord if I kept up that mutinous behaviour of mine and bla and bla... you can imagine the drivel. And of course I screamed back that I wouldn't ever become a follower of their stupid Dark Lord anyway and the row turned out a bit nasty. So I packed and left. I'll have to find a flat now..."

"You stay here at least as long as you're still at Hogwarts, Sirius. There is no way you're going to get a flat of your own before you're of age next year, and you'll always have a home with us," Charlus Potter said.

Sirius smiled, relieved. For the first time in his life he was out of Grimmauld Place and he had been mighty glad for the Knight Bus to have taken him right to the Potters' doorstep. James tugged on his sleeve and said:

"Well, now that that's settled, let me take you up and give you a room. You can have the one next to mine!"

While the boys picked up Sirius' trunk and owl cage and rushed upstairs, discussing Quidditch, Dorea and Charlus Potter looked after them and wondered if they would receive the visit of Sirius' angry relatives soon. Not that they feared it if it should happen, Dorea would not have a hard time to put her niece and nephew in their respective places. She was beyond angry that they had behaved so lowly toward their proper heir.

"They are stupid - Sirius is the heir, they can't change that, unless they murder him! I suppose not even Orion would stoop that low."

"They're your family, I won't comment on any of that, love," said Charlus and smirked.

"I have to say that I'm very glad I only had the displeasure to know my parents for the first 25 years of my life! Pollux I can handle, my father was absolutely crazy! Even Cassy has more sense, and she's got the attention span and intellect of a baby mouse. Luckily she's also about as dangerous as one…"

"You don't especially like your sister, do you?"

"As she's harmless I don't mind her half as much as Pollux, who really infuriates me on a regular basis, as you well know! I think dear Marius and I were the only ones who got any form of intelligence in that family…"

_Now Charlus laughed and Harry laughed right along. What he had seen so far from Dorea Potter he absolutely adored. He wondered what had happened to her and his grandfather in his former life and hoped they met their fate through Death Eaters and that this time they would not see that very same meeting._

The elder Blacks stayed far away. A fact that astonished James' parents. Charlus Potter decided to talk to Sirius' father, but he was told rudely that the Blacks had washed their hands of such a disgrace of a son. Charlus took this as a clear indication that Sirius was free from his family. He would turn seventeen in October, so Charlus thought it could be overlooked that he had no guardian until then. He did inform Minerva McGonagall that Sirius was now living at his place though. Knowing that whatever happened Sirius could not lose his heir status, even if Orion and Walburga Black seemed to try to forget that fact Charlus thought it was for the best that Sirius stayed outside of their influence.

Indeed, Charlus had the hope that this family would turn an entirely different direction once Sirius would become the new Lord Black. Dorea reminded him of the fact that the current Lord Black was still firmly in the saddle - and that was Arcturus Black, who gave a damn to his son and daughter in law. Yes, Sirius was the male heir to the family, and he was the heir to two stems of the same family, so all was still very much in the normal flow.

James thought it was brilliant that Sirius was with him. For the first time in their friendship the boys spent time outside of school with each other at the Potters' place and of course James immediately thought of inviting Remus and Peter for a few weeks. His parents allowed it. Only minutes later, two owls fluttered into the night with a letter to Remus and another to Peter.

_Harry switched over to Remus' house immediately. _

Remus came down to breakfast the next morning and found the letter. Rupert and Rowland were already up and ate their breakfast. Remus, being a bit older, liked to sleep in during his vacations.

"Good morning, cub. Did you sleep well?" Venetia asked.

"Morning, Mum. Yes, I did, thank you."

"There's a letter for you. Sirius' owl brought it."

Remus smiled. Venetia loved to see that bright smile on her son's face every time a letter from one of his friends arrived. Though the smile was always the brightest when it was a letter from Sirius. Remus picked it up and read it.

"Sirius has left his home, Mum! He's at James' and the Potters have taken him in! They're inviting me for a few weeks. Can I go?"

"After the full moon, love."

"That's on the ninth."

"I know. You'll have to rest for the day though, but I'll allow you to go in the late afternoon."

Remus hugged his mother and thanked her.

"Thanks, Mum! - Come upstairs with me, Silas, I'll give you a letter to take back to Siri!"

"Breakfast first, young man, I want to clear the table!"

"Can I take it up with me?"

"Only if you promise to bring the dishes back down."

"Sure!"

Remus picked up a few pieces of buttered toast and a couple of rashes of bacon, his cup of hot chocolate and dashed up the stairs.

"Can I go, too, Mum?" asked Rupert.

"Yes, love, if you've quite finished."

"Yeah... I'd like to go and play."

"Fine, go outside, but stay in the garden, please. And take Rowland with you!"

"Okay. Come, Rowland. We can play broom tag, maybe even Remus helps playing later..."

The boys vanished to the garden and Remus saw them moments later on their brooms. He wrote his letter to Sirius and added an extra letter to the Potters in which he informed them that he would be allowed to come to their place on the tenth of August to the end of the vacation. He added both letters to Silas' legs and the owl took off, back across the country to the Potters.

Time flew and soon the dreaded full moon night came up again. It was summer, so Rowland and Rupert were already sent to bed before Remus had to go down to the cellar. Richard and Venetia hugged him as they always did when he was at home for a transformation, then Remus went inside, only dressed in a bathrobe, which he took off and deposited on a shelf high on the wall. He sighed when he sat down. For more than ten years he had transformed into the wolf now. One hundred and thirty full moons ago he had received that dreadful bite. He wondered how many more he would survive. He didn't remember the nights once they were over, but he knew that it got harder to transform as the wolf was growing up inside of him. Remus had had his growth spurts in the meantime, and he wasn't the smallest in the family anymore. The pain was only worse.

As usual, Venetia found a very bloodied boy on the mattress in the cellar the next morning. It had been hard, but she had learned to stay away from the cellar during Remus' transformations, because he was only more agitated when he smelled someone outside of the door. He missed his friends. For four full moons he had been with them since they had transformed for the first time just after Christmas of the last school year. And even though his memories of the nights were hazy he knew that the wolf had been a lot calmer. He smiled, thinking of his big black dog, whom he regarded as his own puppy. Sirius was so cute, even though he looked like a ferocious beast, a churchyard grim. But he couldn't hide being an overgrown playful puppy in reality. Remus couldn't stop himself the first time he'd seen Sirius, who had flopped down and rolled to show his belly to be scratched, Remus simply had to comply. There was more than just a little bit of Sirius' personality in his dog.

But now he was back in the cellar at home and the transformations had been as bad as any before. Venetia healed the wounds, then she levitated her son up to his bathroom and right into the hot water, where he stretched out and sighed. He was glad he didn't have to walk up the stairs. Venetia helped him wash up and rinsed his hair. Then she helped him to bed, where he fell asleep and didn't wake up for six hours. Rupert brought him soup and bread up and shared some pumpkin juice with his big brother.

"Hey! Up to something to eat, Rem?" he asked.

"Mhm. Thanks, Roop!"

Rupert had just received his Hogwarts letter a few days before.

"Mum said we'd go shopping tomorrow. I can't wait, Remus! What house do you think I'll be in?"

"Hm, no idea, Roop! Where would you like to go?"

"You and Roxanne and Julia were all in Gryffindor. I think it'd be way cool if I got in there, too."

"Well, you'll see. You might, you know! The hat is pretty cool."

Remus spooned his soup and ate some of the homemade bread. His mother liked to cook and bake, so the family was always spoiled with lots of good food. The pot-au-feu tasted very nice, too. Remus fished out a section of a marrow bone and beamed. He spread the marrow over the bread, sprinkled a little salt on top and bit into the crunchy bread.

"Yum! There's not much over Mum's pot-au-feu!" he said.

"I like lots of other things much better."

"You'll love the Hogwarts food! It's great, too."

Remus finished his meal and Rupert took the tray back down to the kitchen. Remus turned around in the bed and slept for another three hours. Venetia checked on him just before dinner. He looked well enough, so she said:

"If you get dressed and come down I'll inform Dorea that you're coming before dinner..."

"Yay! Thanks a lot, Mum!"

She grinned. He was out of the bed in an instant and jumped over to his dresser to get some fresh clothes. They had packed a suitcase with summer clothes and his Hogwarts trunk. Remus would be allowed to stay until the vacation ended and Dorea would hand the suitcase with the summer clothes to Venetia when they met at Platform 9 3/4. She went back down and floo called the Potters. Dorea was there.

"Hello, Dorea. Remus has had enough rest now and he's ready to floo over. I'll take his suitcase and apparate, okay? He'll be down in a moment..."

"Hello, Venetia! That's fine. James and Sirius are waiting for him. Unfortunately Peter had to leave again last Saturday, his family had a vacation abroad planned, so he couldn't stay until Remus comes."

"Oh well, that's certainly better for you! I'm sure it's a handful to have the boys there..."

"It's fun, too. Sirius is a nice boy. I finally got to learn to know him quite well."

"He must be. Remus is quite taken with him. He is always happy when there's a letter for him, but he seems happiest when there's a letter from Sirius."

"How cute. How is he today?"

"Slept most of the day, but he emptied quite a big bowl of soup at lunch, which is usually a good sign. No wounds or bruises left, I've healed it all."

"Good. So there are no restrictions for him?"

"Not really. He'll sleep a bit more in the next three or four days, so no worries when he doesn't get up early."

"Very well, we'll let him rest up. - hello, Remus! Ready to floo over?"

"Hello, Lady Dorea! Yes, I am!" Remus called from behind his mother.

"Good, I'll see you in a moment, Dorea!" Venetia said, got up and helped Remus turn his trunk so he could take it easily through the floo.

After he left, Venetia followed with his suitcase. Arriving in the Potters' living room she witnessed Sirius pulling Remus into a tight hug.

"It's so good to have you here, mate! Let's help you take your stuff up. You can bunk with me!"

Remus seemed to have already greeted all others in the house. Venetia gave James the suitcase and told him to follow his friends. Then she turned to meet Dorea. They shook hands.

"Thank you for inviting Remus for the remainder of the break. It means so much to him to have friends."

"That's very much alright! We figured it's the first time ever that Sirius has his own friends for a visit; it would do him a lot of good, too. I'm sure we get along with Remus just fine," said Dorea.

"He's pretty easy to have. Don't hesitate to ask his help for chores."

"We will, if there's need."

"Fine! Well, I have to return home, Rupert and Rowland are alone at home. They're a bit dangerous to be left alone!"

"We'll see you at King's Cross then!"

Venetia left and the boys upstairs dropped Remus' stuff in Sirius' room, where there was a second bed next to Sirius' four poster. They had three weeks together until the start of the term. Sirius grinned at Remus and said:

"Do you want to unpack your suitcase? There's space enough in the dresser, I can put my stuff in one drawer and you can have the other... there's also still quite a lot of space in the wardrobe..."

"Are there shelves? Then you don't need to relocate your stuff in the dresser, I'll just put mine in the wardrobe..."

"Jolly good idea. Here!"

Remus quickly unpacked. Then he asked:

"Have you been out shopping for the school supplies yet?"

"Nope. Peter had already been right after he got the letter, that's why James and I decided to wait. We could do that in the next days..."

Remus smiled.

"Good!"

"Your Mum's very nice..." Sirius remarked.

Remus had never said much about his family. He had noticed that family was a sore spot for Sirius and he didn't want to deepen his friend's wounds by telling him a ton of fluffy stories about his siblings and parents. So Sirius knew almost nothing about them. Remus grinned now and said:

"I really love her to bits, Siri. She's always kind and she loves me, my dad, too. Without them I'd have never survived as a werewolf. My siblings are also great, they really carry me."

"Lucky you! I'm glad that you have good parents."

"Hey, Sirius, Remus! Are you coming? Time for dinner!" James called and banged the door open.

"Yeah, we're coming."

The three trampled down the stairs. Dorea thought an earthquake had broken out, but it was only three famished teenage boys who stormed the dining room with a big grin on their faces. She sent them to the kitchen to wash their hands. Charlus had arrived at home and greeted the newcomer.

"Hello, Remus! It's nice to see you again. Are you okay?"

"Yes, sir, I am. Thank you for inviting me..."

"You're very welcome! You boys will surely have a lot of fun together."

"Can you say Quidditch?" James called.

"Or broom tag?" Sirius followed suit.

"Or Exploding Snap all day long?" James continued.

Remus grinned. This was as close to a normal life outside of his own family he'd ever get, he thought. The dinner was a very pleasant affair. There was a lively conversation going on between the five. The Potters didn't treat the boys as children anymore; they regarded them as the young adults they were slowly becoming, so they discussed lots of things with them. As that was a very similar lifestyle as the one Remus was used at his own home he wasn't shy at all. After dinner the boys cleared the table and washed the dishes, then they took off outside for a while and when it got dark they returned and ran up to James' room, which had more space than Sirius', now that there was a second bed in there.

"Peter already bunked there, so we just made a fresh bed..." Sirius told Remus.


	4. 03 - In Love With His Best Friend?

**Chapter 3 - In Love with his best Friend?**

_Harry settled himself to observe the summer vacation of the Marauders and his mother. He had spent some time with Lily, watching the growing rift between her and her sister, who was now nineteen and had a fiancée. Harry groaned when he noticed that Vernon Dursley was only marginally slimmer than when he had known him. Lily had thrown one glance and had to hide her snickering._

"What's he doing? Breeding pigs and eating too many of their products?" she asked recklessly.

Petunia reacted like the overly emotional and not very intelligent teenager she was and ran from the room, crying. Marie Rose threw a reproachful glance at her younger daughter, but Lily was beyond caring. Every time she had come back from Hogwarts she had to tolerate her sister calling her names like 'freak', 'hag' (as if Petunia even had an idea what a hag looked like, Lily thought) or 'bitch'.

Lily simply shrugged her shoulders and said to her mother:

"What did she expect? Me trying to be her rival for the love of that walrus? I thought she at least had some taste, but she lacks even that!" she said.

"Lily, she isn't as gifted as you. She probably thinks there's nothing better she can get…"

"If she stopped going on with that stupid jealousy of hers she'd find that she could have much more than a Vernon Dursley. Honestly, look at the pair of them they fit like a fist and an eye!"

"You get no comment from me. I tried my best, sweetie. But how about you? How was your school year?"

"Oh, I really did well! Can't wait for the OWLS, just to see how well I did. Had a lot of work, but Remus is a good partner. Remus Lupin, that's the my prefect partner in our year. He was supposed to reign in his friends a bit, but he's not even tried. All other jobs he's done perfectly well though and he's been a pleasant study partner, too. I suppose he lets his friends do what they want because he's never had any friends before, beyond his family. He hides something, too, and I strongly suspect his friends know what it is and protect him. But he's very nice otherwise."

"Boyfriend material?" Marie Rose asked.

"Not for me, Mum," her daughter replied, laughing. "I think he carries a torch for another boy in our year."

"Oh…"

"That doesn't seem to be a problem in the magical world. I don't have a problem with it either. He'd never be aggressive to me in any case."

Marie Rose laughed.

"No, most of them are said to be rather friendly towards women."

"Dari and I have spent a lot of time together. I'm glad that she doesn't live half a country away, I'm allowed to go see her, Mum, aren't I?"

"Of course. She does have a telephone, doesn't she?"

"She does. Her parents are both Muggle-born."

_Lily spent much of her time during her vacation with her friends. Harry was happy to find her an unencumbered teenager who had no idea yet of the impending war, that was secretly already taking place. He wasn't astonished to see that she got herself quite the load of work for the NEWTS years, as she chose Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defence, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures. Seven subjects would mean a shedload of work, Harry thought. As it was for Hermione, who had the exact same subjects. Over the years Harry had found a number of similarities between his mother and Hermione. Apart from the simple fact that both were Muggle-Born, both had a keen intellect and were reputed to be the most intelligent witches in their year. But both had a good sense of humour, even if Hermione's had to be tickled out sometimes. Lily could be downright mean as the example earlier on showed, but she wasn't usually spiteful except towards her sister. Harry thought that Petunia was totally unjust and that she had no right to be jealous of her sister. Lily couldn't help what she was. She could help that she was usually very nice to everyone and just because Petunia could only act nice didn't mean Lily had to stop being friendly. Harry found that the two sisters were extreme opposites and wondered where it all came from._

_Harry hopped back over to the beautiful place he had come to know as his ancestors' home. _

Behind the closed door Sirius transformed to the dog for fun. He slumped down in front of Remus, who sat on the carpet with his legs spread apart. Remus dug his hands deep into the shaggy pelt of the dog and caressed him. He felt his heart pound and when he noticed that he was actually caressing Sirius, he blushed and let go. Sirius turned around and gave Remus a little shove with his big paw. Remus gripped it and said:

"You know, Sirius, you're a right Padfoot!"

James laughed and said:

"What a great nickname you've given Sirius, Moony!"

"Matches mine in its idiotic way..." said Remus, who had yet to get accustomed to the nickname with which his friends had tagged him after they had found out about his werewolf.

"But it fits you perfectly; you're always mooning over something, Remus!" James insisted.

Sirius barked.

"See, Padfoot agrees," said James.

"So you would like to be called Padfoot?" Remus asked the dog.

The dog nodded and dropped down again. He looked at Remus with a penetrating stare, whined a bit and barked happily when Remus' hands returned to dig in the thick fur.

"I don't think, anyone would be afraid of this Grim," he sniggered.

"I don't think so either. Padfoot can't hide his lovable character," James confirmed. "But come on back, Siri, how about some Exploding Snap?"

"Okay," Sirius said, transforming back swiftly. Remus pulled his hand away immediately, blushing again.

He knew he couldn't hide his crush on Sirius for much longer. If the blushing didn't give him away, then it would be how he looked at his friend and his love for Padfoot, the dog. It was true that seeing Padfoot for the first time had given his crush the last push. Remus liked to think of it as a crush, but deep down he knew that he was in love with Sirius. It made him afraid, because he didn't expect Sirius to return his feelings. He wasn't sure about Sirius' sexual orientation. It was the heydays of glitter rock and Sirius had grown quite fond of the Muggle music scenes, he loved everything between hard rock and glitter. He had bought a whole new wardrobe which expressed those tastes since he'd come to the Potters. Flared jeans, so tight he could hardly sit down, glittery outfits, t-shirts which barely reached the upper rim of the trousers, high heeled boots. At the end of the last school year, Lily and her friends had introduced him to make-up, which he loved and now he was rarely seen without polished nails, kohl around his eyes and glittery colours on the lids. He wasn't too fond of lipstick, but he did apply some gloss sometimes. His hair had grown out to reach his shoulder blades and the black mass looked very tempting to Remus, who would have loved to rake through that even more than through Padfoot's thick fur.

So Remus wasn't sure if this was just Sirius' fashion sense or if it was an expression of his sexuality. Of course, looking a bit effeminate made Sirius also look like a bit of a poof, but it wasn't really a hint, because so many boys around them acted the same way, even around their girlfriends. When Remus reminisced a bit about it, he remembered that Sirius didn't look particularly interested in girls. At school he would usually mostly ignore them, even though many of them were in awe about his good looks. He thought that many a girl would be ready to overlook his less pleasant character traits just to be the one to go with him. Remus was realistic enough to know that Sirius had some less pleasant attitudes.

But it wasn't that he had seen Sirius with boys, either.

"Why don't you get together with some of those girls who would love to date you at Hogwarts, Sirius?" he asked, out of the blue.

The next moment he thought he must be crazy and wanted to vanish into the tiniest hole he'd fit in. Sirius looked up from his cards and gasped a little. He stared at Remus and replied with all the coolness he could muster:

"Maybe I'm not interested in them..."

James looked up as well. He usually grinned about Sirius' antics in dressing up and playing the ponce, but he had thought it to be just that, acting. Now he wondered.

"What, are you gay?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Think so. Just usually can't stand the girls when they get too close. And too girly... all giggly and excitable..."

Remus' heart pounded. If Sirius was gay... he smiled at his friend. Sirius noted the smile and he meant to feel a difference in this smile to Remus' usual smiles. While Remus was still fighting to accept his sexual orientation, Sirius had left that stage already behind even though he had never told his friends about it yet. Sirius carried a torch for his friend, had done so for about two years and for Sirius it had been a sign of fate that his Animagus form was a dog. One canine for another, yes? But how to tell your best friend you're in love with him? He didn't say so, but he loved the nickname Remus had just bestowed on him. For Sirius this nickname was like a very personal gift from his love interest. He loved Remus' hands in his fur and wished he could feel them on his skin instead of the fur. He hoped that one day Remus would notice that Padfoot came out often for Remus alone. He sometimes hated himself, because it felt like he was manipulating Remus. He knew Remus couldn't resist the dog and he would freely do to the dog what he probably wouldn't do to the human counterpart. He rubbed his fur, played with him and loved to tussle and mock-fight. Remus wouldn't mock-fight with the boy Sirius. He thought it was too childish. But he never hesitated to really play with the dog, no matter how silly the games became. Sirius knew it and took advantage of it. He loved to see Remus leaving his inhibitions behind when he wrestled and played with Padfoot.

A while later James asked if someone was willing to play chess with him. Remus was, so they brought the board out and set the game up on the carpet in front of the fireplace. Sirius transformed again and put his head in Remus' lap. Remus absentmindedly caressed the big doggy head and Padfoot sighed in contentment. James observed his two friends. Padfoot lay on his side, all four legs stretched out, with his head on Remus' lap. It looked so sweet and cosy, so James got up quickly. Before Remus noticed what was going on, James had snapped a few photos.

"You two are too cute for words!"

Remus groaned.

"I'm not cute!" he protested. "Not so sure about Padfoot here, though. Big as he is, he really looks cute with that shiny black nose and those pale eyes. And your tongue lolling out."

The dog panted slightly, to hide his sniffing for Remus' scent. He looked up and turned his head, so that he could lick Remus' hand.

"Hey! No licking here, Padfoot!"

Remus wiped his hands on his jeans. He looked at Sirius with a reproachful glance, but Sirius didn't seem to care much. In fact, Sirius was as happy as could be. He was close to his love and if that was all he would get he happily took it.

After a fairly intensive battle James won the game. It was too late to start another one, so Remus got up and said:

"I'm really tired, even though I slept a lot today. I think I'm going to bed."

"Okay. You can have the bathroom first then..." James said and watched Remus leave the room, closing the door behind him.

"Turn back, Sirius!" James told his friend.

Sirius reappeared. He shook his hair out and crossed his legs. James looked at him for a moment, then he said:

"I think you have a thing for Moony."

"You think? - I know..." Sirius said sadly.

"So why don't you do anything about it?" James asked. He was rather amused.

"Well, how do I tell him? I don't think he likes me back this way. He loves the dog, and I know he really likes me, but we're friends, aren't we? I don't think he swings that way either..."

James just grinned. He didn't know if Sirius really hadn't seen it, but he had noticed the blushes. He pointed out:

"I've seen Remus blush at least three times tonight. And only because of something you did or said. Maybe that was why he asked you about your disinterest in girls..."

"Do you think so? It did come a bit out of the blue, didn't it?"

"Absolutely. I was almost shocked that he asked. It's not usually like Remus to do something like that. It could well be a sign, couldn't it?"

"Don't know..."

Sirius was at a loss for words. He wasn't ready to believe that his dream could actually come true. James went on:

"And hey, he gave you a nickname! I haven't heard something like that from Moony ever before. He usually doesn't use nicknames at all. And not just any nickname, he's given you the best nickname I could imagine. A real dog's name."

Sirius smiled.

"It's true that, isn't it? I don't think he'd give me an answer if I asked him though..."

"Just give him more signs. Smile at him, things like that. Try to spend more time with him, like when he goes to the library at Hogwarts. I'm sure he'd love that."

"James Potter, the great prat, giving love advice! That must be the best joke in the world," Sirius grinned, feeling very self-conscious.

"Hey, I resent that!"

"Well, so far you haven't found a way into the heart of Miss Lily Evans yet, have you?"

"But I will. I'm going to change my tactics this year. If you're running after the wolf, I'll have time to behave a bit better. That will convince her of my sincerity over short or long. She'll fall for me yet, you'll see!" James said.

"Ever the self-confident James Potter... wish you the best of luck. If she'd loosen up a bit she'd be perfect for you."

Remus poked his head around the door.

"Bath is free!" he called.

"Thanks, Remus! - I'll go and brush my teeth quickly then," Sirius said and got up.

"I'm coming with you if you don't mind."

"Nah, I don't mind, that's okay."

A few minutes later Sirius turned the knob of his door and went inside. Remus had already undressed and wore only his shorts and a thin t-shirt. Sirius threw a quick glance at the tiny, but lovely round arse of his friend. He sighed a bit, then closed the door again and shed his clothes. Remus slipped into the bed and pulled up the blankets.

"Good night, Siri," he said.

"Night, Rem..." Sirius replied and climbed into his own bed.

There was a still small fire burning in the fireplace, otherwise there was no light. Sirius turned around, so he could see the shock of brown hair on Remus' head. Remus had turned his back to the bigger bed and pulled the blankets up to his chin. Sirius smiled. It was the way Remus always slept.

After a few hours Sirius woke up, hearing strange sounds in the room. He realised it was Remus, thrashing around in the middle of a nightmare. He moaned and there were tears spilling from his tightly closed eyes. Sirius was up in an instant. He sat on the edge of Remus' bed and grabbed his shoulders.

"Remus! Rem! Come on, wake up, Moony! It's just a dream!"

Remus woke up and stared at Sirius. He slumped back on the bed and mumbled:

"Sorry for waking you..."

"No problem, Rem. Post transformation shite?"

"Yeah. The usual drivel, too. I just can't seem to wake myself up from those dreams. I really hate them..."

"It's okay, Moony, don't worry about waking me up. I'm glad if I can pull you out. Want to come over and cuddle?"

He nodded to the big bed. Remus shoved the blankets down and sat up. He followed Sirius and the two settled in the big bed, Remus in Sirius' arms. They were asleep within minutes and there were no more bad dreams.

Remus had a few bad dreams in the next nights. It was nothing new for Sirius and James, they were actually quite used to it, as Remus had lots of nightmares at Hogwarts, too, mostly only for a couple of nights after the full moon. So Sirius and Remus got lots of cuddling time, which both very secretly enjoyed on a whole different level, but both were insecure enough not to be fully honest about their motivation to enjoy the other's closeness.

In their interaction with the elder Potters neither showed anything other than exuberant teenage boys. James never got a moment to talk with Remus alone, but he was determined to give him a hint about Padfoot's feelings. It took two out of the three weeks until James got his opportunity. They had decided to go to Diagon Alley on the Friday before the last week of the break. The Alley was full of shoppers, lots of school mates who were out doing the same, but they enjoyed it. At some point Sirius left them to see his lawyers to retrieve his Gringotts key and get some money. James and Remus went ahead and bought the books they'd need for the coming school year. They had all done very well on their OWLS. All three had chosen the same NEWTS level subjects, they would be taking Transfiguration, Charms, Defence, Potions, Herbology and Ancient Runes. They didn't know yet what Peter intended to take, but they were quite sure he would drop Potions. Remus would have liked to drop that subject, too, but he knew that if he wanted to become an Auror he had to take it. He had done well enough in his OWL to be eligible, which had astonished him. He never expected to have a mark as good as the E he got.

"Remus..." James started, while they went to Florean Fortescue's, where they were to meet up with Sirius again.

"Hmm?" Remus asked, already with his nose deep inside of the new Defence text book.

James smiled. Remus would always put his books first, his friends second and most else long after that. They had already been to the bookshop while they waited for Sirius.

"Say, when Sirius told us he's gay..."

Remus' ears perked up. He turned to James, who grinned.

"Thought, that'd fetch you from your book..."

"What?"

"I think he's got a thing for you. Would that shock you too much to even think about it?"

Remus' eyes became slits.

"You 'think' or you 'know'?"

"Well, more like 'know'..." James admitted.

"Did he ask you to talk to me?"

"No! He'd probably kill me if he knew... but if you return his feelings, then I think it would be awful to watch the two of you trying to give each other hints and at the same time trying your best not to see them. Don't you think?"

"Does he give me hints?" Remus asked, honestly astonished.

James rolled his eyes.

"Don't you see them? Could he be any more blatant short of saying it? Every time he's turning into Padfoot... he wants you to pet and tickle him, not anyone of us. 'Cause he loves you."

"Oh." Remus said.

"So - do you want the hints?"

Remus couldn't stop his smile. If it was true... then yes, he wanted those hints very much. But then he said:

"Yes, I think, I do. But what if he means something entirely different?"

"He doesn't."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Asked him. He didn't deny it, on the contrary."

"Oh." Remus said again.

They had only just sat in front of their ice creams at Florean Fortescue's for ten minutes, when they spotted Sirius coming in from the alley. He grinned and waved and joined for them. He went to order his own ice cream. Then they sat in the sun. Remus passed a big bag over to Sirius and said:

"Here, your books, Siri."

"Thanks. How much?"

"Two Galleons, fourteen Sickles and three Knuts," Remus replied.

Sirius slurped some of the melting ice cream and reached for his purse, to pay Remus back. He didn't have enough Sickles, so he said:

"Here, take three Galleons. You can get me a couple of sugar quills at Hogsmeade next time..."

"Okay."

Remus took the coins and placed them in his own purse. He had already received his allowance for the term, which was quite comfortable. His parents had added the estimated amount he would need for the supplies. The three of them enjoyed their ice creams and talked to some of their school mates passing by. Sirius enjoyed it especially. He had never known freedom like this before, now he was almost overwhelmed. His mother had usually just pulled him through the shops and then taken him home again immediately. In the last summer she had even left him at home and bought his supplies alone. He thought of her and shivered. He would forever remember the harpy who screamed and raged, who mistreated him at the slightest misbehaviour. He could never be sure that he did behave either, because she would redefine misbehaviour every day. He would be in fear of his mother as long as she would be alive.

Remus noticed his faraway look. He nudged Sirius lightly and Sirius shook his head, looking at his friend questioningly.

"Come on, Siri! We're going. I need some stuff still..."

"Okay."

Sirius grabbed his bag and checked that his purse was in its proper place, then he walked out next to Remus.

"Where have you been just now, Siri? You looked so lost..."

Sirius sighed.

"Just thought about how my mother would never let me out alone. It's still incredible to be away from that place, Moony! I've never had this freedom."

Remus smiled. He looked up to Sirius, who was about half a head taller now that Remus had caught up a bit. He gave Sirius a hug.

"You've really deserved to find that freedom, Padfoot. In less than three months you're of age anyway and don't need to bother with them anymore."

"Yeah... trouble is only that I'm the heir and they can't do anything to change that. They would have to murder me to get rid of me, and that would slightly put themselves out…"

They were bustled around in the mass of people who were out on this sunny August day. Someone gave Sirius a little push to move, but shoved him into Remus, who was startled. Sirius had to throw his arms around his friend to keep his balance. For a few seconds they stared into each others' eyes. Remus turned to Sirius in the embrace, looked up and their mouths were very close, their lips almost brushed against each other, when they heard James:

"Come on, where are you guys?"

An instant before James came around another group of people and saw them, they let each other go. Remus' heart was beating very fast. They had been so close! Did that mean that James was right?

He decided to test the grounds. When they went to bed that night, he waited for Sirius to come to the room and when Sirius was climbing into his bed, Remus walked to his with a little sway to his hips that made Sirius gasp. Remus threw a quick surreptitious glance behind himself and what he saw made him sing and dance inside. Sirius stood frozen next to his bed, staring at Remus, who stuck his arse out a bit more when he bent down to hold up the comforter and slip into the bed. Sirius let out a tiny grunt, turned around and came over to Remus. He pulled the smaller boy around, pulled him into his arms and asked in a whisper:

"Remus! What was that this afternoon? Were you about to kiss me?"

"I think so. Were you about to kiss me? Would you have if James hadn't interrupted?"

Sirius nodded. He bent down slowly and pressed his lips onto Remus'. For a moment they just explored the feelings of each other's lips touching very lightly, but Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius' waist and got closer. All he could think was: 'James was right, James was right...'

With a soft gasp he opened his lips a tiny bit and touched Sirius' with his tongue. Almost immediately he felt how Sirius let him inside, he met another tongue, warm, wet and that first touch sent a jolt of pleasure through his whole body. Sirius moaned. He pulled a bit and both of them moved over to his bed, but this time they slipped inside there fully aware of the other's feelings. Their lips locked again. Sirius wasn't the only one who moaned now. Remus responded in kind and he pressed himself against Sirius' body.

Both realised they were aroused at the same time. Both blushed, but the kissing was so good, so they just returned to more of it.

"Mm," Remus made.

Sirius smiled into the kiss. He had never kissed like this before. A few stolen kisses from girls, which meant nothing and had done even less for him, one kiss with a boy behind the broom shed at Hogwarts after a Quidditch practice, which had only left him more confused, because it didn't seem to work better than with the girls was the sum of his experiences. But now, this, it was like a bomb exploding inside of him. He felt a whole avalanche of feelings rush through him and he found that his cock was hard without even touching it. Then he realised he was pushing against Remus and Remus was just as hard. He could feel it easily through the thin fabric of two pairs of boxers. He drew another deep breath.

"Remus..." he sighed.

"Siri," came the quiet, almost shy reply.

"Remus, you're not just playing with me, are you?"

Remus shook his head.

"No!" he almost shouted.

"I've been in love with you for so long... so long," Sirius mumbled and kissed Remus again.

Each kiss sparked more fire. Each kiss burned longer and was felt deeper and more intimately. Remus clung to Sirius and was kissing with as much vigour as he felt it from Sirius.

"I love you, too, Siri," he said in a low voice, when they took time to catch some breath.

Sirius closed his eyes and said a quick thank you to whatever deity was out there listening to his mind. He started to caress Remus over the shoulders, his arms, his back, then he stuck his hands under Remus' shirt and heard the gasp Remus let out.

"Nnnng..." Remus made, then: "Just don't stop, this feels so good..."

And to show Sirius what he meant, he mirrored the action, pushing his hand underneath the t-shirt and groping for Sirius' nipples, which he pinched, then caressed with the palm of his hand. Sirius reacted promptly with another thrust of his hip toward Remus.

"Yes!" Sirius hissed.

The t-shirts were removed quickly. In the flickering light of the dying fire they looked at each other, discovering each other with their sense of touch more than their eyes. Remus burrowed his head in Sirius' chest and took deep breaths, inhaling Sirius' scent until he had it memorised forever. He smelled a bit differently than usually. Remus noticed that this was Sirius' scent when he was aroused.

Sirius turned on his back and pulled Remus along. Remus straddled him and placed himself so that their cocks were lying side by side. There was still the fabric of their boxers, but both could feel through the thin material. Remus pressed down a bit. Sirius moaned.

"Aw! Aw, Remus! Remus, yes!"

He pulled Remus close, held him tightly and thrust upwards, Remus pressed down and it didn't take more than a few minutes until both of them reached their orgasms. It was earth shattering for Remus. He had masturbated like everyone else, but rarely and only under extremely tight silencing charms. He had heard all of his dorm mates more than once. He had reached a number of quite nice orgasms, but nothing so far had even been remotely as good as this first shared climax. Even though no hands had been involved, no penetration had taken place, just the rubbing of their erections against each other through the fabric of their shorts had been enough.

"Gods, that was good..." Sirius sighed.

Remus squirmed. The sticky moistness in his shorts started to be disturbing. He shimmied out of his and wiped the remaining seed off his abdomen. Then he helped Sirius out of his. They looked at each other and both blushed again. It was the most intimate moment both had ever lived through.

"So, what are we now?" Remus asked.

"Lovers?" Sirius asked back. There was hope in his voice.

Remus smiled. He kissed Sirius again and feeling Remus' naked body along his own skin made Sirius gasp again. Slowly, Sirius let his hands run along Remus' side until he reached the hipbone, which he followed. He could feel the skin underneath his hand flutter. Remus hissed. Sirius reached the patch of brown curls above Remus' cock, dug his fingers inside and curled the still moist hair around them. It was enough to get Remus' cock up again. He could just feel it harden the moment he touched it. Remus buried his face in Sirius' shoulder.

"Mm."

Sirius grinned. He moved his hand very slowly, to get a first feel of that other cock. It gave him a jolt, too, to feel this hardening organ in his hand. It was still damp from the orgasm before, and probably still a bit tender to his touch.

"'S that okay?" he asked.

Remus just nodded into his shoulder. Sirius pulled his hand away and stroked Remus over the head. He dug Remus' face out and planted another kiss on his mouth.

"Love you..." he whispered.

Both were sated and thoroughly exhausted when they finally went to sleep. They promptly overslept in the morning and were woken by James, who opened the door with a bang, only to freeze on the spot. He noticed fast enough that both occupants of Sirius' bed were stark naked and put his hands over his eyes. James grinned, but he cried out theatrically:

"Oh, woe to me, that I have to start my day seeing *this*!"

Both heads in the bed turned around. They both blushed and pulled up the blankets in one swift move.

"James! Get out!" Sirius shrieked.

James laughed out loud and retreated. He closed the door and ran down the stairs. When he came into the kitchen, he was so obviously in an excellent mood that his mother noticed.

"What's put you into such a good mood, James?" Dorea asked.

"Oh, just something. - Mum, what do you think about two guys in love with each other? Or two girls for that matter?"

Dorea looked at him sharply. Did her son prepare the terrain to tell her that he was gay? But what would have put him in such a beaming mood, then? Did he hook up with either of his friends?

"I know a gay couple, James. If they're discreet and don't hit on other men - or women - all the time then I don't mind them. Why do you ask?"

With a bit of trepidation she waited for him to come out, but he just said:

"Then be prepared. Siri and Remus are in love with each other. I think they hooked up last night..."

"Oh dear! Well, as long as they're happy..." Dorea tried not to show that she was relieved.

James grinned.

"Thought it was me, eh? They might have a while to work things out and get together, but I think they're on the way to being very happy. I wish I could get there with Lily..."

"Still mooning over the lovely Miss Evans?" Dorea teased.

"I'm not mooning! I love her, mum! If only she'd see it..."

"Why don't you try some flowers now and then? Ask her to study together, the way you describe her she seems to be pretty serious with schoolwork. Which couldn't harm you either, by the way."

"Hey! I did well on my OWLS," he protested.

"Granted. But with your good head they could be even better."

"Ow!" he made.

Dorea laughed. She was quite happy with her son, but of course she knew that he tended to be a bit on the arrogant side, often encouraged by Sirius of course. But if Sirius and Remus were becoming a couple, who knows, maybe James would concentrate on his schoolwork a bit more. And Dorea knew very well that James encouraged Sirius just as often.

She was still pondering this when Remus and Sirius arrived in the kitchen. Their behaviour showed not the slightest difference to the day before, but now that Dorea knew she started to observe the boys and soon found that they were exchanging glances, winks, there were tiny touches and when she saw them in the large garden a few hours later they were kissing. She frowned a bit, but then turned her eyes away. They would come out of their closet when they were ready. In the meantime James would probably tell them that his mother didn't freak out at the thought of gay people.

Charlus wasn't as pleased when she told him. They were getting ready for bed and he frowned at the information.

"I don't like it very much, Dorea."

"Why? You're not prejudiced against homosexuality, are you?"

"No, it's not that, I don't think. But while they're under our roof we're responsible for them."

"Yes, and? Do you think they will hurt each other?"

He blushed.

"No, why should they? But, you know... I'm not exactly comfortable with them carrying on here at my house."

"Oh, you're worried about them having sex? They didn't seem to be there yet. But I did see them kissing in the corner of the garden this afternoon. Remus looks very happy..."

"Well, who knows how hard it will be for him to find a partner. He has to tell them that he's a werewolf and I would bet that most of his possible partners would be up and gone after that information. Sirius already knows and is comfortable with it," Charlus admitted.

"Yes, I think that is an important aspect in Remus' affection for Sirius. Now we know why the two of them seemed to get along the best. Sirius and James are always like a barrel of explosives with a burning wick on it. You never know when they explode. Remus has a very good influence on Sirius. He's a pretty down to earth boy."

"I've had that impression, too, these past weeks. Oh well, there's not much we can do..."

"Or even should. In a few days they'll be off to Hogwarts and then they're beyond our control anyway."

"Should we tell Richard and Venetia?"

"No. Officially we know nothing of their relationship. It wouldn't be right to out them to the Lupins before they can do it themselves. I'm quite sure they will do so when they're ready. At least their relationship won't produce untimely or unwanted children."

Charlus nodded. They climbed into the bed and Dorea extinguished the lights with her wand. She snuggled closer and felt the arms of her husband pulling her to his body.

Remus and Sirius went to bed and this time they didn't even bother leaving any clothes on. They jumped into the bed together and kissed each other for half an hour.

_'Well,' thought Harry, 'I do wonder if that is the point where things divert from what they were like the first time around.' He remembered being told that his parents had only found together in their seventh year, when they were working side by side as head boy and head girl. _

Their return to Hogwarts a couple of days later meant the end of a week in heaven for Remus and Sirius. On Platform 9 ¾ they met up with Richard and Venetia Lupin to give them Remus' suitcase. They still had a few minutes left. Remus looked up to his parents and said:

"Mum, Dad, I've got something to tell you..."

"Yes, Remus? What is it?" Venetia asked back. His tone told her immediately that it was something important.

"I'm in love..." Remus said and worried his lower lip.

"Wow! Now there's a surprise, cub. Do we know her?" Richard asked, grinning.

"Him. And yes, you do know him," Remus replied.

Now Venetia knew. There was a deeper reason for Remus' happy face when he received one of Sirius' letters after all, she thought. She didn't mind that at all. Thinking practically she knew how difficult things could get for Remus when it came to looking for a mate and from that point of view she found him being together with Sirius ideal. But were they together?

"So, are you and Sirius together, love?" she asked softly, giving her knowledge away.

Remus looked up at her, astonished.

"How d'you know it's Sirius?" he asked.

"Lucky guess!" she said, laughing. "Is it?"

"Yes. I really hope you don't mind that I won't give you any grandchildren..." Remus replied with a blush.

"As if there weren't enough other candidates for that in the family, Remus! Remember! You have three brothers and three sisters. Sources enough for grandchildren, sweetie. The most important thing for us is that you are happy, sweetheart."

Venetia hugged her son. His affliction had always made him closest to her of all of her children, even if she loved them all. She felt that it was most important that he knew he was loved.

"I'm really glad for you to have found love, Remus. That's more important than a grandchild, you know! You should be happy and that will give you as much of a normal life as possible. And that makes me happy for you. Would you like to bring Sirius home for Christmas?"

Remus smiled so widely she thought his mouth was going to reach his ears. He threw his arms around her and almost sobbed.

"Oh Mum, I'm so glad you're okay with it. I'll write you all about it when I'm back at Hogwarts, okay? Sirius will be so glad that you're okay with it."

"Where is he at all?" Venetia looked around until she saw Sirius talking with James a few metres away.

He caught her glance and looked back anxiously. She beckoned him over. He came and looked worried, but Venetia pulled him into a hug and said:

"Let me first congratulate you on getting away from that awful place, Sirius! I'm sure you're much happier now. And then let me ease your mind about being together with Remus. I'm glad it's you if it had to be another boy. You may know that for Richard and I only counts what makes Remus happy, and frankly, he is glowing right now. If that's because you two are a couple now I'm fine with it. Welcome to the family, Sirius!"

Sirius couldn't hold back his tears. He returned her hug and sobbed. She patted his shoulders and said:

"Come now, sweetie, there's no need to cry, now is there? You love each other, that's fine with me. And even though Richard still looks like a fish on dry land I'm sure he thinks the same..." Venetia teased her husband more than what she believed might be her future son-in-law.

Richard laughed. He pulled Remus into another hug and said:

"Don't worry, Remus, I'm fine with it, too. You two have been best friends for so many years already, I think that should be a good basis for a solid relationship. I really wish you all the best. You'll enjoy Hogwarts especially this year, there'll be a surprise for you people!"

"Oh! What is it, Dad? Come on, if you know it would be so unfair not to tell us!"

"No, won't do anything like that. What surprise would it be if you already knew?"

"Aww! That's mean. To tease us with something you know and then not tell!" Remus said in protest with a slightly whiny tone.

Sirius had caught himself. He looked at the Lupin family and noticed Remus' younger brothers. And in that moment he noticed that he never met any of Remus' family other than his parents.

"Oh, Sirius, this here is Rupert, and this is Rowland. They're my little brothers. Rupert starts Hogwarts this year."

"Oh..." was all Sirius could say at first. Then he held out his hand to shake Rupert's and Rowland's.

"Hi. I'm Sirius. You've probably heard about me..."

"Yeah, a bit..." Rupert said and grinned.

"Once a day or so..." Rowland filled in.

"Or once an hour every day..." Rupert went on.

And both boys dissolved into peals of laughter. Remus just gave them a little shove. While they fought with each other a lot the two of them were quite a mischievous pair. He looked forward to the Sorting to find out which house would become his brother's new home away from home.

"It'll be so dull at home with you all away," Rowland complained.

"You'll be off to Hogwarts very soon, too, love," his mother said.

Then she checked the time and said:

"Well, you people should hop on the train, it'll leave soon! Will you keep an eye on Rupert today, Remus?"

"Of course, Mum. Though I'll have to go to the prefect's carriage for the start."

"That's okay, we'll take him with us, won't we, Sirius?" James offered.

"Of course! Can't but keep a watch over a Marauder's little brother... Come, Rupert, you'll have a lot of fun on this ride!"

Soon they were settled into a compartment. Remus kissed Sirius and left for the prefect's carriage from where he returned an hour later with the latest information about what would be going on at Hogwarts in the weeks to come. He found his little brother happily playing Exploding Snap with James, Peter and Sirius. There was another boy in the compartment who looked like he was a first year. Remus recognised one of Rupert's school mates from the primary school.

The moment he opened the door to the compartment it looked like the sun had risen in Sirius' face. He beamed at his boyfriend. And said boyfriend beamed right back. Peter noticed and asked:

"Hey, did something happen while I was away from you guys?"

"You could say so, Peter. Be prepared for a LOT of sappiness going on in our dorm. Those two are like dripping honey! In other words, meet Hogwarts' newest dream couple..." James said with as much sarcasm as he could muster, but he couldn't hide a grin which belied his words somehow.

Since James was alright with it, Peter was. He said:

"Oy! Did it occur to either of you guys that you are in fact, err... two... guys? Together?"

Sirius grinned. He beamed at Remus, whom he had missed already, even if he had been away for only an hour.

"Yeah, it did, go figure!" he said.

"That's kind of the idea of being gay, Peter," Remus added.

"Oh..." was all Peter said.

And after a while:

"Well, it's good you're together, glad you won't be hitting on me then..."

James grinned and confirmed:

"Yes, I'm kind of glad about that, too! And I suppose my Mum was as well."

And they all laughed. The rest of the ride passed in comfortable bantering, playing and of course Remus spent about half of it immersed in one of his books.

"How did you do on your OWLS, Peter?"

"Not as bad as I thought. Got one in Charms, Herbology, Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. So I'm now taking those, Defence and Transfiguration."

"Oh, great! That means we still share four of our subjects."

"That's great! How did yours go?"

"I'm quite happy about them! I got an O in Defence and Charms, E in Transfiguration, Potions, History, Herbology, Astronomy and Ancient Runes. And I've got an A in Arithmancy, too, but I'm dropping it. Don't need a teacher to study that anymore," Remus replied.

"Wow! That's quite impressive! How on earth did you manage an E in Potions? That will keep you in Slughorn's NEWTS level class, won't it? And an O in Defence? We know you are brilliant, but most of the teachers we had treated you like shit…"

"It will. And I have no idea, but the main factor could be that the examiners are a bit less biased and that they don't know I'm a werewolf..."

At that moment they remembered that they weren't as alone in the compartment as they usually were. Rupert of course knew everything about Remus' lycanthropy, but Danny, his friend, had no idea. He looked up at Remus, shocked, and was just starting to scream when Rupert put his hand on his mouth.

"Shit..." Remus said quietly.

He was so used to handling his lycanthropy casually when he was with his family or with the Marauders he had completely forgotten that there was someone else in the compartment. It was also a sign of his trust in his friends and their trust in him that he was able to take it so easy.

"Dan, just calm down, please!" Rupert said and added: "I'll take my hand away if you nod and tell me that you won't scream, okay?"

Daniel nodded. Rupert took his hand away and explained:

"Sorry, Dan! I couldn't tell you, it isn't my secret to share, but now that Remus has been the idiot himself... I hope you will mind as little as we do, once you'll know that he's really okay. I mean, just how many years have you known him?"

"Quite a few..." Dan managed.

"And is he any different now than he was two minutes ago?"

"No," the boy had to admit.

"There you go…"

Remus looked at him anxiously.

"How can they let you into the school? And even make you a prefect?" he hissed nevertheless.

"Because I'm safe..." Remus said.

"No werewolf is safe!" Dan protested.

Sirius sighed. Then he looked Dan in the eyes and said:

"Werewolves are people like you and I except for that one night a month when they have to transform, Daniel. That means there is not the slightest reason for you to be afraid of Remus. Because on that particular night he leaves the castle for his transformation. That means he will be far away from you and you don't have to fear a thing. Believe me that there is nothing dangerous about Remus when he's a human. Apart from his sharp wit that is. He's been made a prefect because he's the most talented among us four and because he's the most reliable one. Can you see past the prejudices that everyone has loaded on you and accept that he has a right to get a good education just like every other wizard or witch?"

"I don't know..." Daniel said, sounding very insecure.

"Tell you what. When we get to Hogwarts you'll be sorted and then we'll have a little chat with Professor Dumbledore about it, okay?" James said.

"Okay."

"And may we ask you that you do not repeat any of this to anyone until then? Because it's kept quiet that Remus is a werewolf to not cause more of the reactions you just showed. If people don't know they won't worry about it. Remus carries a heavy burden, but he's holding up under it and he's never yet endangered anyone," Sirius added.

"Okay."

Luckily the trip ended shortly after that and they all left to catch one of the carriages to school. Remus gave Rupert a little shove in Hagrid's direction.

"There's Hagrid, Roop. You two go with him."

"I'll have an eye on Dan until the Sorting is over, Remus, okay?"

"Thanks, Roop! I'm such an idiot."

"He'll keep his mouth shut."

Remus followed the other three Marauders to a carriage and snuggled close to Sirius during the ride. He was really scared that little Daniel would spill the beans before they could have him in Dumbledore's office, where he would probably be obliviated.

The moment they reached the Great Hall, Remus and Sirius went to talk to the headmaster who was already at his place at the teachers' table.

"Professor Dumbledore, could we have a word in private with you before the Sorting, please? It's quite important," Sirius said.

"If it is that important, then yes, please step into the little room here..."

_For the first time Harry now saw the Marauders interacting with Dumbledore directly. As usual the old man was giving the understanding grandfatherly attitude that Harry had come to despise deeply. But this time it was real and even Harry could recognise the concern as true affection for the children involved._

Once the door was closed, Remus told Dumbledore about his mistake on the train.

"Daniel Norris? Well, if he should be sorted into any house other than Gryffindor, where you can keep him under control until after the feast I'll obliviate him. If he is getting into Gryffindor you can see to it that he does not say anything. I should think that this will suffice."

Remus was relieved.

"Yes, that should do just fine. Thank you, Professor."

"You are very welcome, my boy. I would really like to see you leave Hogwarts at the end of your seventh year, not before that."

Remus beamed.

"Now you should re-join your friends at the Gryffindor table. I am sure we are almost ready to start the Sorting. You wouldn't want to miss seeing your brother sorted, would you?"

They all returned to the Great Hall and the boys took their seats on the spots Peter and James had kept free for them. Remus took Sirius' hand under the table. He followed the Sorting. There were a couple of new Gryffindors in the first few first years to be sorted. Then Professor McGonagall called:

"Lupin, Rupert."

Rupert hopped to the stool, sat down and vanished under the hat, which shouted "GRYFFINDOR" only seconds later. Rupert took it off, beamed and was off to the table where his brother sat in a dash.

"Hey, Roop! Glad you made it here!" Remus said, beaming, too.

"Me too! It's just the coolest house!"

_Harry admitted to himself that the members of the other houses rightly thought the same about their respective houses! But secretly he couldn't but agree._

His housemates could only agree with that and welcomed their newest member with lots of applause. They turned to see what would happen with Daniel. He came up and was sorted into Hufflepuff. Remus looked over to Dumbledore surreptitiously and saw that the headmaster had lifted his hand only slightly in Daniel's direction. He sighed with relief. Daniel would be oblivious of that disastrous knowledge now and would be all the better for it. Rupert was a bit sad that his best friend from primary school was in a different house.

"Don't worry, Rupert, you can still be friends with Dan! There's the library and the Great Hall where you can spend free time together. I'm sure you'll share some classes, too. It's good to have friends in other houses."

"Yeah, you're right."

"And you're surely going to make some friends here in Gryffindor."

After the feast and the speech from Dumbledore the new fifth year Gryffindor prefects rounded up the first years and took them up to the Gryffindor tower. Remus turned to Sirius and was about to go when he heard Dumbledore calling him:

"Mr. Lupin, a word please."

Remus turned around. Dumbledore smiled and said:

"It's been taken care of. You need not worry that it will be spread."

"Thank you, sir! I was such a fool not to keep my mouth shut."

"On the other hand it is very nice to know that you can be at ease around some people, Remus. You must cherish that."

"Yes, I do. You have not even an idea to what extent."

And he gave Sirius a mischievous glance.

"I might have an inkling," Dumbledore replied, smiling. "Have a good night, gentlemen!"

"Good night, Professor!" Remus and Sirius chorused.

They followed their housemates up to the tower slowly. Their curfew wasn't just yet, so they took their time. Sirius took Remus' hand and held it tightly in his own.

"How do you feel about it, Remus? Would you mind that people knew about us or do you want to keep it among us?" Sirius asked.

"I want to make it clear that you're mine, love! I'm not about to start worrying about others flocking around you. They may look, but definitely not touch! Besides it will chase away all those girls trying to get your attention."

Sirius grinned. He loved Remus' possessiveness. For the first time in his life he didn't worry about being someone's 'possession' as he wanted to belong to Remus fully. Walking up the many stairs they moved closer and by the time they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady Sirius had his arms around Remus' shoulders and Remus' was firmly around Sirius' waist.

"Well, what do we have here? If you two aren't quite the lovebirds..." the Fat Lady said.

She was chatting with a lady from another portrait and Remus knew that now the news about their relationship would be spread within hours. He gave the Fat Lady the password, she swung forward and let them enter through the big hole behind her. When they stepped through they noticed that there were only a few fifth, sixth and seventh years left in the room, the younger ones were all on the way to their dormitories already. Some of their housemates looked around to see who was coming in late. Seeing the couple, some of them gaped quite open-mouthed.

"We just wanted to let everyone know that both of us are taken!" Sirius declared, grinning.

Some of the people looked rather non-plussed. Some of the girls looked deeply disappointed that two of the best looking Gryffindor sixth years were unavailable for the female population of the school and others just shrugged. Lily Evans actually came to them and smiled. Sirius knew that the smile was meant for Remus, who was the only one of the Marauders Lily actually liked.

"Congratulations, Remus, that's good to know! You need someone..."

"Thanks, Lily. He's good for me, believe me! And we're very happy," Remus declared.

"Good!"

Soon the excitement died down and within days they were back into the routine of classes again. Of course the rumour about the gay couple went through the school within a day, but they sat it out and after a while the whispers died down.

The surprise turned out to be additional Quidditch matches with two teams from Beauxbatons who would come to play two friendship games in a mini tournament around the Easter break with the two top house teams of Hogwarts. That was a reason for James, who was the new captain of the Gryffindor team to rouse them early three times a week to do physical exercises and Quidditch training. Three players had left the team at the end of the last year and so there was need to hold tryouts for a second Beater, a Keeper and a Seeker. The positions were filled with a third year for the Beater, Lily Evans as Keeper and Remus as the new Seeker. After that was made known to Madam Hooch she scheduled the Gryffindor matches so that none of them would fall on a full moon night or the two days around. Remus had then accepted the position without fear of discovery or failing the team. Sirius trained his new Beater colleague hard. It was fun for him and he quickly managed to bring the new team member up to speed.

_Harry was non-plussed! No one had ever told him that his mother was on the Quidditch-team! How could anyone keep such important information from him? He wondered, rather put out at Remus and Sirius for never mentioning it. Never even mentioning that they themselves were on the team either, come to think of it! On the other hand that explained why Lily would have written to Sirius in such a casual way that he was riding his baby-broom so easily around the house… go figure! But Harry was too pleased to see his whole family play Quidditch soon to be angry for more than five minutes. He felt himself grinning all the way to the next Quidditch game and was sure that the Gryffindor team would make it in the tournament._

And who would have thought that Lily was a superb Keeper? She had tried out because her friend Dari had asked her to. Dari Sanchez was a Chaser, together with James and a now fifth year named Mary Robins. James was quite happy with the new team, but he already planned to find reserves to build up a team for the time after the now five sixth years would leave.

Barely ten days after the start of the term was the first full moon night. Remus surprised his friends by suggesting:

"Why don't we tell Poppy Pomfrey about you guys? She already knows that you know, but I think it would be good to have at least a few adults know about your Animagi. She's the most reliable to keep the secret around here. I'm pretty sure, Madam Minnie would be, too, but she might be too angry and proud that you managed that feat."

James, Sirius and Peter pondered this for a day and then they decided to give it a try. They went to the hospital wing on the Saturday before the full moon and were lucky, too, as no one was there at the moment. Poppy looked at them and asked:

"Hello there. Anything amiss with one of you?"

"No, Madam Pomfrey. It's just, we wanted to talk to you about something concerning Remus..." Sirius said.

"What is it?" she asked.

She immediately softened down when it was about Remus, because he had become her little darling. She was quite protective of him. The other Marauders knew that very well.

"Well, only indirectly. You see, the three of us did something once we knew he was a werewolf. We searched for something that would help him and found out that werewolves generally are not dangerous to animals. Magical or non-magical," James started.

"That's interesting. If he'd bite any of them they wouldn't be affected normally, that's right. And?"

"Well, that gave us lots to think about. First we thought we'd just find a big dog or something, like a friend for him, you know. But then we came back to our third year and Professor McGonagall talked about Animagi..." Sirius continued.

Poppy's eyes went wide.

"Tell me you didn't go ahead and do something that foolish to try..." she said, almost choking.

"Actually, yes, we did... and we managed it last year..." James said, grinning.

"Look!" Remus said and then there were three animals, looking at the nurse.

Peter, the rat, quickly climbed up the stag's legs and body to place himself between the antlers. James, the stag, scratched the floor with his hooves and Padfoot, the dog, barked and let his tongue loll. Remus immediately petted Sirius and got his face licked.

"Wow."

That was all she said. Then she sat down on the nearest bed.

"That's amazing. Can you turn back?"

Within seconds the three boys were back. She stared at them, truly in awe. She was amazed that they had mastered the transformation and she was amazed at the display of friendship towards Remus. She looked at Remus, who smiled.

"Does anyone else know about this?" she asked.

"No," Sirius said.

"You know that you need to be registered."

"Yes, but we thought we'd do that after we leave Hogwarts," James said.

"Good. I suppose you want me to keep quiet about this?"

"If you could do that we'd be very relieved. We just thought we needed to have an adult or two who know about it."

"I'll claim patient confidentiality. - So you are actually spending the full moon nights with Remus?" she asked.

The boys nodded.

"Dear me... what if he bites you?"

"Been there, done that... nothing happens. We've wrestled quite a bit and of course I caught a bite or two, but since I'm still not a werewolf it apparently doesn't matter," Sirius said, beaming.

"That relieves me quite a bit, Sirius. What about Peter? I mean, he's a pretty tiny rat and normally a wolf wouldn't bother with a rat long... it would rather eat it…"

"He was quite scared the first time we went in, but we knew he was also small enough to slip out anywhere or to hide easily, so it wasn't so bad. We had checked that there were enough cracks around where he could hide. Turned out that the wolf must have accepted us as a pack or something," James said.

"This is absolutely amazing. Are you sure you don't want to entrust Albus and Minerva with this? I'm sure they'd explode at first, but then they'd probably just be proud of you. That's no small feat, especially since you have mastered it at such a young age and on your own!"

"We'll think about it. We thought to tell you first, because you noticed that I hardly had more than a few little scratches the last three transformations before the summer break."

"So that was why. Well, I never! You three are really good friends, I don't think that's ever been done before for such a reason! Thank you for trusting me with your secret."

On the full moon night Remus went to the Whomping Willow, which he was now allowed to do alone. He usually went there on a hidden path from a not very well known exit out of the castle so he wouldn't be spotted from the school. He waited for his friends, who joined him not much later. They were good and stayed inside of the Shrieking Shack for the night. James watched how Moony reacted to Padfoot now that their human counterparts were lovers. And he was amazed, because the wolf really was fond of the dog, groomed and licked him for a long time and growled at him and Peter. James almost laughed about it. He decided that if the canines wanted to be alone, he'd just lie down and sleep in a corner of the room. The rat joined him there presently.

The wolf and the dog wrestled and Moony made it clear who the boss was. Padfoot registered it with some amusement. The wolf was almost as big as the dog and he was strong. For the largest part of the night they played around the house, but when Sirius got tired he nudged Moony up to the bedroom and onto the huge four poster bed in there. Then he laid down next to the wolf and licked him. Moony whined a bit and then finally found some sleep. Sirius kept licking for a while, then slept, too.

Remus woke up when the transformation back to his human form started and when it was over he fell back on the bed, exhausted, sore, spent. Sirius held up his dog form to keep the naked boy warm. Remus buried himself in the warm fur of his mate. Though they had yet to fully consume their relationship he knew full well that he had found his mate. He snuggled close to the dog and found sleep again.

James and Peter were up as soon as they heard Remus transform. When all was quiet again they went up to the bedroom to peek inside. Remus was sleeping curled around Sirius, who was still in his dog form.

"We let them sleep for yet another while... classes won't start for another two hours and Remus will need to get rest at the hospital wing until at least lunch time..." James said.

"But it takes quite a while to get back to the castle," Peter remarked.

"Right. Well, then we had better wake them up. Padfoot will have to do with a short night's sleep."

They woke up their friends and helped Remus to the hospital wing, where Poppy took care of him. A quick glance over her patient told her that he was probably only tired.

"A bath and then back to bed with you, Remus. And you three get a bit of rest and then off to breakfast!"

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey... we're not too tired, we slept most of the night," they chorused and left, but not before Sirius had kissed Remus tenderly.

"I'll come by later, love," he promised.

_Harry was in awe as well. He wondered whether he had reached the point where things ran differently than the first time around. He sensed that the actual difference was very near in any case._

In this manner the first part of the school year passed quite nicely. To woo his beloved Lily James tuned down considerably on his pranks. He followed his mother's suggestions and Lily warmed up to him noticeably. It helped that Lily was on the Quidditch team now, where she played her part very well. It helped her loosening up, which made Lily a well-rounded young woman who could be serious and have fun at the same time. Her circle of friends widened considerably as she gradually added James' friends to her own.

All the while Remus and Sirius grew closer together. They had decided to use the bed furthest away from James' and Peter's so the other two weren't disturbed. They never slept apart anymore. Remus' transformations were still painful, but he was able to bear them with more ease, knowing that he didn't have to be alone.

James was happy for his cousin when Sirius told him that the Lupins had invited him to spend Christmas with them. They also invited James and Peter for the last days of the vacation. Both happily promised to be there, parents' approval provided.

The trip home was a happy one. Rupert turned up for a part of it, but otherwise the Marauders were among themselves. Remus spent most of the time on Sirius' lap, either napping or snogging or reading. The others were amazed at the many things Sirius and Remus were able to do while sitting on each other's laps. They seemed to be connected with some invisible rope, as for the past months they had not been seen one without the other. It had exposed them to a number of very low jokes from some of the Slytherins, but they managed not to pay them any mind. Remus would hold his boyfriend in check, but they had hexed the Slytherins back a couple of times. Bellatrix had woken up one morning covered in blisters that oozed lots of water. They had looked awful, but were completely harmless. But it took two days until they vanished entirely and she was of course still fuming about the incident. It irked her much more that she couldn't run to Sirius' mother to have him punished anymore.

During the first term Remus and Sirius had both celebrated their seventeenth birthdays. They were now regarded as adults and with their birthdays coming they had received information letters from the Ministry that their restriction of performing magic outside of school had been lifted and that they were now eligible to take their licensing test enabling them to apparate. Which they planned to do during the break in the days between Christmas and New Year. But it also meant that Remus' registration was now on public record at the Werewolf Registry. Dumbledore made a special trip to the Ministry to see if he couldn't postpone that publication to the date when Remus would leave the school, which was granted.

When they arrived at King's Cross station the Lupins, Potters and Pettigrews were all there to welcome their children home. They all met up and greeted each other, then they fixed the dates when Peter and James would be going to the Lupins. The Potters knew of course that there would be a full moon, but Venetia and Richard had assured them that Remus was kept in a very secure cellar, so they didn't worry. After all, Remus had a rather large amount of siblings and those were all still very fine. And the Pettigrews were totally oblivious of that little fact, so they were happy to let Peter join his friends for the week after the New Year.

The Lupins took Rupert, Sirius and Remus to their well sized Muggle car and drove them to their home. When they got there, Remus pulled Sirius immediately up to his room and they dropped their trunks somewhere. Sirius looked around. The room was as neat as Remus was and looked very nice. There were loads of books of course, but it also contained a number of toys, stuffed animals and a big desk. It was colourful, friendly and cosy. Sirius loved it at once.

"What a friendly room you have, love. You should have seen the mausoleum they kept me in at Grimmauld Place," he mumbled.

"Bad?"

"Worse. Dark, dank, dull, dreary would be the first adjectives that come to mind."

"Oh."

At dinner Sirius was surprised that there were even more siblings who came to welcome their younger brothers back from school. Richard, who was engaged to be married in spring, turned up with his fiancée, Marisa. He was thirty-four now, a fact that his mother didn't tire to tell him meant it was about time to settle down with a spouse and give her a handful of grandchildren. Sam was married, but she and her husband weren't in a hurry to have a house full of children. Still, they had a daughter Frances who was three years old. Roxanne wasn't married, but she had twin girls named Gina and Gianna who were two years old. The encounter that had led to the conception of the twins had been a mistake and the father didn't even know about the children. Roxanne had kicked him out before she had known herself. She had a steady boyfriend though and wasn't interested in getting married just yet.

Sirius was introduced to Remus' older siblings as his boyfriend straight away. Richard grinned broadly when he shook Sirius' hand and said:

"That's great! We've heard tons about you, Sirius, Remus usually doesn't shut up about you, James and Peter when he's here. It's great he's found more than a friend in you. You must have been the first people to accept him as a werewolf apart from us. He's always held the spot of our darling baby brother. We used to have two defined images of him, Remus with a book and Remus with a broom. I'm very proud he made Seeker for Gryffindor!"

"Already won us the first match, too! He's brilliant! That's what James says, by the way, and James *is* Quidditch through and through."

Sirius beamed. He was so happy for Remus to have such a good family. To have siblings who were looking out for him. He thought the girls were okay, too, Sam a casual and intelligent leader, Roxanne and Julia the more mischievous younger sisters.

"So, are things still as cosy as ever up in Gryffindor tower?" Roxanne asked.

"More than ever," Sirius replied, looking at his boyfriend.

"Great! I loved that place. It was so much home."

"It definitely is to us," Remus said.

_As ever Harry enjoyed every second in the warmth of this truly nice family. Comparing it to the Weasleys he had to admit that some of the Weasleys were fantastic people, but the family as a whole was more of a skeleton without the flesh, because Molly was so overbearing and so kept her thumb over everyone in the family that the traditional boisterousness in the Weasley family never reached his heart. Here it was the heart and soul of the family. Venetia didn't reign, she led. Her children had gone through her hands and were given more freedom as they grew until they were ready to leave the nest. Neither Richard nor Venetia held them back. The result was that they all came home at least once a week for dinner. They had an official family dinner on Sundays, but the children who couldn't make it would usually come on another day. For the first time Harry had now seen several truly intact families. He also recognised why they worked; they were happy because they were balanced. Some members may have been stronger than others, but in their relationships with the other family members they held about the same measures, which made for the harmony they enjoyed. There were occasional rows in all the families he had accompanied, but even the Evans family was basically happy. Petunia had her parents to herself most of the time and sowed disharmony when Lily was at home, but Lily was again protected by her parents when her sister went overboard._

_It was probably the most important lesson he had learned out of the whole years he spent in this floating existence. He felt that it prepared him for a future in which he could expect to enjoy his family for the largest part of his life._

Sirius was almost a bit intimidated by so much happy family. At first it made him shy, but he loosened up to it soon, because even more than Dorea Potter Venetia cuddled him. Dorea loved, but she wasn't a very motherly type of woman, her own family had never given that to her. Dorea was a self-taught person where it came to loving other individuals. Venetia had grown up being cuddled, mothered and loved. She never had to learn to be a care-giver, she had sucked it in from her own happy childhood. Sirius was amazed at her ability to care for him intensively, while she cuddled all of her children and the grandchildren at the same time. She was a very motherly type, but definitely one with a sharp intellect and her wit showed Sirius from where Remus had his dry humour. He opened up to her quickly, because she took some time to get to really know that boyfriend of her son's. After several conversations with him she told Richard one night when they went to bed:

"There's much in Sirius, Richard. You give him a chance to talk and he doesn't shut up about Remus. He really loves him."

"Would you believe that the Blacks were able to conceive someone like Sirius?" Richard said, grinning.

"Oh, he has told me a few things about them. He's really had a pretty hard time, I don't think he exaggerated anything. I rather expect him to have kept a few things secret."

"He's quite the character. But he seems to be sincere with Remus."

"Definitely. I've also had an owl from Poppy last week, telling me that Sirius is always there in the mornings after transformations, how much he cares for Remus and how he does everything to make it easier for him."

Richard slipped under the duvet and turned to Venetia. He was happy for his son. He'd much rather have him gay and in a happy relationship than straight and struggling to find an understanding partner.

"I imagine that the people at the Registry won't mind that he doesn't sire children either. Albus has kindly asked them to keep Remus' record unpublished until he leaves Hogwarts. They granted it. He's only informed me yesterday."

"That's excellent! It's never been proved that lycanthropy is hereditary, Richard. There isn't one child on record that has inherited the curse."

"I know. But they still act like it is. This way will be easier. And he's happy. Have you ever seen him so cheerful?"

"No, I haven't. I'm only glad that he doesn't have to be alone. The family's all there for him, but that's not the same as a life partner. Having a couple of rock solid friends and the family will keep Remus on track. He's aiming to become an Auror, but you know first-hand how much he'll have to fight to become one."

"If he even gets the chance to apply. There are too many people in the Ministry who think that no part-humans should be allowed to work there. They don't see that we couldn't do without brilliant young people like Remus, so I'll keep fighting to prevent the bigots from getting through. On the other hand I am in a position where I can't help him into the saddle without making myself suspect of corruption. Can't do myself what I preach to others not to do after all. It's written law what corruption is and what's on stake if one acts against the respective bills."

"That's perfectly clear, not only to me. He hasn't asked you to do anything, has he? That would be out of his character…"

"No, he hasn't and I know he wouldn't. That would a) not be his style and b) he knows already that I can't push him."

"Good. There's something in the works. Two potions masters are working on a potion to alleviate the transformations. They're nowhere near yet though," Venetia said.

"Oh! Are you one of them?"

"No. But I know one of them. He's told me about his work. He'll be looking for people to help testing the potion sooner or later, but not just yet, that's why I'm not bringing it up just yet. I'm quite sure Remus would be interested. And I'm helping with some of the research."

"But that could be dangerous..."

"I know."

Remus and Sirius went to bed with no worries. They had made themselves familiar with each other's bodies and started to venture into more intimate things.

They had learned a few helpful spells from Poppy Pomfrey who was never too prudish to talk about sex. Any student who asked her questions got open replies. She taught the older girls to brew contraceptive potions or taught them the spells. She sometimes called boys to her office of whom she knew they were with a girl to check that they knew their responsibilities. And if they didn't they learned it on the spot. The school had long since kept up this approach to hormonal teenagers. It had been a co-ed school since the beginning a thousand years ago. It was the main marriage market in the wizarding world. Most of the relationships that were formed at the school were confirmed later. There was rarely a child born out of wedlock because the school's nurses had seen to it that the students knew what they were doing. Talking about it quite openly had proved to be a fairly successful approach.

There were also fairly few divorces amongst wizards and witches, mostly because the young adults were allowed to collect experiences with the other gender in a well protected and guarded surrounding. The second reason why few couples split up was far less savoury as many of the old family practiced marrying with bonding spells. A number of these spells just made sure that the couple couldn't split in the first place and an even more numerous amount of spells forced the partners to produce offspring. There were family spells in that regard and Sirius shuddered when he reminded himself what his family did to the girls who married into the Black family. They were treated with spells that not only guaranteed their fidelity, but would kill them if any semen entered their system that wasn't strictly their future husband's. The spell was built around a sample of his semen for this very purpose. There would be a second layer to the spell that gave them more freedom only after they produced the required number of children. He knew that his mother underwent that spell and two or three others.

On the other hand there was also the influence of the sixties and seventies in the Muggle world, which was brought into Hogwarts through the many Muggle-born students. They had brought in more open attitudes towards other models of living arrangements. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs, who were the most open towards new things happily tended to take full advantage of these attitudes.

_Harry thought that his parents had grown up in a much better atmosphere at the school. Even with the war sometimes knocking on the huge oak doors at Hogwarts they still enjoyed a carefree life within the school. There were few occurrences that contained sheer hatred between the houses and the rivalry was still fairly healthy. The fashion sense that the Muggle-born students brought inside of the school started to spread through at least three of the houses and in most of the common rooms there was music played from record players that the WWN would never have accepted to play. Watching the students dance to what he recognised as Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin or the Rolling Stones made Harry grin. The fun of the music and the glittering dress code sprang over to the all magical teenagers easily. During their vacations many ventured out to the Muggle world more often than their parents ever had and they learned to make use of Muggle amenities in many ways, from cinemas to televisions._

_With all of these influences the sexual revolution wasn't far behind. The traditionally welcoming attitude in the magical world to Hogwarts as a marriage market for the older students integrated the less decisive way of choosing partners from the outside with relative ease. That was also made possible because Dumbledore felt it was a good influence. He'd rather people, even young students, got together in love, so he strongly encouraged inter-house relationships._

_Harry had mused about the number of students there at Hogwarts and wondered how many of them were Muggle-born like his mother – in her year alone there was about a dozen. He tried to remember who was Muggle-born in his own year. Hermione and Dean, and in Dean's case he knew that his sire was a wizard, even though he hadn't known before coming to Hogwarts. There was one in Ravenclaw, Terry Boot, and there was at least one in Hufflepuff, Justin Finch-Fletchley. All in all not even half the numbers than in his mother's year. Over the years he had noticed that the number fluctuated, but while his parents were at school it was never less than ten. In some years there were more than twenty!_

_"You know, Harry, Fate reported that there was so much in Dumbledore that she actually liked! She cannot fathom why his way of thinking convoluted so badly that he only saw the sacrifices of your parents and yourself as the only way to go forward! She's finding the loophole to finally make a great turn in the fates now, so watch out!" DP Karli said in Harry's mind._

_"Really? I thought so. I wondered if my Mum being on the Quidditch-team already was a part of it. Don't know if she ever was, so I really wasn't sure."_

_"She was on the team before, Harry. Sirius and Remus just never got around to telling you, because frankly, how much time were you able to spend with the two of them undisturbed?"_

_"Basically none! I can see where they're coming from. Wasn't angry about it for very long. It's too much fun to watch them!"_

_"That's the spirit!"_

_Harry was happy. This was another incident where he could have thought back in bitterness, but he simply couldn't be angry at most of the people who had actually let him down in his former life. Most of them had been victims of circumstances created by a blinded old man just as much as he was. He certainly wouldn't carry any grudges about that over to his new life!_

_The closer he got to that the more he looked forward to it. He wouldn't even be turned off by the embarrassment from seeing his family in sexual situations, just because they were so happy; and he was happy that they were happy._


	5. 04 - Christmas Break

Chapter 4 - Christmas Break

Venetia was a good mother. As such she decided that the happiness of her son was much more important than his sexual orientation. As a former Ravenclaw she went into the books immediately to learn what she could about homosexuality to be there if her son entrusted her with questions. And within two days after the boys had been with the family they already talked. Remus helped Venetia in the kitchen, while Sirius entertained Rupert and Rowland by playing Exploding Snap with them.

"I can see you and Sirius are very happy together, Remus," Venetia remarked.

He looked over at her, cutting up carrots the Muggle way. Then he admitted:

"We are, Mum. It's amazing to be with him."

"I'm glad for that, love. And I'm okay with it."

"I'm glad for that, too, Mum. It would have been very hard if we were both estranged from our families. He really needs some kind of a family now, you know."

"I know. I'm glad he's already found one with the Potters, too. - Did you two become intimate already?"

Remus blushed. Venetia saw it and smiled.

"You're cute when you blush, sweetheart."

"I'm not cute!" he protested.

"Your blushing says a lot though. Did you?"

"Not all the way..." he admitted.

"Will you?"

"Yes, I think so. I want to in any case. It feels so good to feel him. I know he loves it, too."

"It's part of being in love, Remus. I'm still not past that with your dad, and honestly, I hope I never will..."

"Mum! I didn't need to know that, really!" Remus cried, slapping his hands on his ears.

She laughed out loud and said:

"Maybe not, love, but don't forget that all seven of you are the products of our love. So, yes, I think you do need to know that your Dad and I are also still lovers. It helps us to understand what you're feeling right now. It would be great if what you felt for each other would hold..."

"It's not that I'm entirely free to choose who I want, Mum. I think, that the wolf has a bit of something to say to that. It doesn't torment me when I'm with Sirius. It's just quietly there in the background. At least that's how it feels."

"And would it make itself known if you were with someone it didn't accept, do you think?" Venetia was genuinely interested.

"I think so. I haven't tried. It's been Sirius for me for at least the past two or three years since I started thinking about having a partner. Just didn't know that he was after me, too... so it's quite okay. I'm calm and can remain quiet."

"That's very good then..."

"This is done. Do you need something else cut up?" he asked and pointed at his neat pile of carrot cubes.

"Looks lovely. Could you treat the celery in the same manner?"

"Sure."

It had been a while since Remus and Venetia had cooked together. They both liked to do that, and if they did it together they usually did it the Muggle way to have some time for a chat. Venetia was probably the only person who could talk with Remus about the wolf inside of him without making him uncomfortable. He knew she really was interested in what was going on inside of him and she was not the least bit afraid of him. He never felt fear from her in any case.

"Do you think there's something in the claim that werewolves are mated for their whole life to only one partner?" she asked.

"I've no idea. I only know that I'm really not interested in anyone else but Sirius, but I think I wouldn't be even if I wasn't a werewolf. Question is only how long it lasts. I do believe though that it's got nothing to do with sex. I mean, the books and even more the lore say that the first intercourse would do the mating thing, I'm not sure I want to believe that. I rather think that the wolf supported my decision and did treat me a bit less bad for it. So for that I've already mated."

"There is something of the wolf inside of you, even when you're human, Remus. Wolves don't like to be alone and I know you like some solitude now and then, but you need to be included in a family or your group of friends or you would truly be unhappy."

"That's true. But humans are no different there..."

"You're right about that."

Sirius turned up in the door after finishing a last round of Exploding Snap with Remus' younger brothers. He had heard the last few exchanges between mother and son from the entrance to the kitchen. They hadn't noticed him yet. He smiled, watched them quietly for a while and finally came into the kitchen. He walked up to Remus and kissed him on the neck.

"Ouch!" Remus had jumped and promptly cut himself lightly into a finger.

He brought the finger to his mouth to suck the blood away. Then he turned to Sirius and scolded him:

"Just for that you can continue the cutting here, Sirius! You've startled me!"

"Sorry, love. Pass the knife..."

Sirius wiped the knife clean and continued where Remus left off. Venetia just grinned and looked at Remus' finger.

"Doesn't need a healing charm, love, it's a tiny bit... your wolf takes care of that in five minutes."

"Yes, but it'll bleed until then..." Remus mumbled.

But within five minutes he gently started to play with Sirius' hair while he watched his boyfriend cut up the celery. In the meantime Venetia had taken care of the roast, which she fried in a pan and now set into a bowl to put it into the oven once the vegetables were cut up. She had cut the onions and garlic, added some broth and waited for the carrots and celery cubes. Sirius brought them.

"Just spread them around the roast. Great. That'll go into the oven for a while."

The boys both helped her with the rest of the dishes and talked all the while. They were glad to be able to talk to someone about their love who wasn't only understanding, but genuinely interested.

When they closed the door to Remus' room to go to sleep that night, Sirius said:

"I love your Mum, Remus! I really like Auntie Dorea, but your Mum manages to be motherly housewife, intellectual researcher and witty comedian all combined in one person. She's great!"

Remus smiled.

"Good. I hear it's always good if one gets a nice mother-in-law."

"In that respect you're definitely drawing a lousy lot. You don't even want to get closer to my mother than ten kilometres if you've half a mind. Since you have a full one..." Sirius said, bitterness dripping from his mouth.

"I know. The way you described her she must really be horrible."

They undressed and slipped under the covers until they were cosy and warm. Both cuddled for a while and started to caress each other. Whenever he got close to Sirius Remus felt fire course through his body, his heart was beating fast and he loved to breathe in and pick up the scent of his lover. Remus was happy. He had always felt comfortable in the warmth of his family, but this was a completely different sort of happiness. He felt it deep inside of his stomach, from where it spread into the very last fibre of his body. He snuggled up to Sirius and turned in his arms and pressed his back against his lover's front.

"Mm," he purred.

Sirius pulled him close. Being so close to Remus didn't really come naturally to him. His upbringing had not included any form of affectionate closeness. His parents had strongly discouraged Sirius and Regulus becoming close friends and had hardly ever touched their children. On the contrary, Sirius had been exposed to quite a lot of domestic violence. Being wizards the Blacks didn't even need to touch their children to achieve that. While Regulus was broken to their wishes Sirius never stopped to rebel against their views.

It was Remus who taught him to love. He had been smitten with his friend for a while before he even realised what it was that he felt. Having never known love beyond his Uncle's tender words he had an even harder time to accept that he was, in fact, in love with Remus. It had taken him at least a year to even realise it. Now they had been together for six months and they had learned a lot about being close. Sirius loved the feeling of having Remus in his arms. It gave him strength, confidence and of course it made him quite randy. Remus wasn't all that shy since they were together. On the contrary, he had learned to be quite manipulative if he wanted Sirius to become more physical. Remus was ready for the last step, he wanted to make love to Sirius.

Both nearly jumped off the bed when all of a sudden a flame sprang up in the middle of the room and out of it they recognised Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix. Remus put his hand on his chest to still his heart beating. Sirius looked at the bird and started to grin.

_Harry simply knew that this was it - this was the pivotal moment where things were set in motion that would give him the happy childhood he never had before!_

"Hello Fawkes," Sirius said.

His rather frequent visits at the headmaster's office had given him ample opportunities to meet the phoenix. Fawkes flew down on the bed. They both noticed he had a letter in his beak.

"Is that for us?" Remus asked.

Fawkes only dropped the letter. He looked up at them and Sirius petted his fiery red head tenderly. Fawkes trilled happily and flew up again before settling down on the cross beam of Remus' four poster.

"Looks very much like it, love. D'you think it's from Dumbledore?" Sirius whispered.

"Most probably."

The letter was addressed to them both. Remus picked it up and started to open it. Sirius looked at Fawkes and remarked:

"Bet he's waiting for an answer..."

Remus pulled the single sheet from the envelope. Reading it his eyes got round. Sirius looked worriedly at him, but then Remus just passed him the letter wordlessly.

"Dear Remus and Sirius

I am aware that you young people have started a relationship. I have come across some very old literature about werewolves and their spouses containing some interesting facts that I would like to discuss with the both of you. If you would kindly grip Fawkes' tail feathers you will be brought to my office.

I allow myself to remind you that it would be a good idea to inform your parents about your short visit here before you leave.

Fondly

AD"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other and jumped off the bed to get dressed again. They went to find Venetia and Richard to show them the letter. Fawkes followed them out of their room and sat on Remus' shoulder. Richard read the letter and passed it on to his wife.

"Well, I think you might better do what he asks you to do," he suggested to the boys.

"Yes, we will. Just wanted to let you know, dad. I suppose we'll get back the same way we go there."

They put their cloaks on and both boys turned up to grip Fawkes' tail feathers as instructed. The bird took off and flashed them directly into Dumbledore's office.

"That's really cool!" Sirius beamed, looking around.

"Wow, Fawkes! You're one hell of a powerful little fellow," Remus whispered, caressing the bird who butted his head against his hand for more.

"Ah, my letter has worked! Good evening, gentlemen," Dumbledore said with a smile, entering the office from his private chambers. "I trust your voyage with Fawkes has been short and easy?"

"Good evening, Professor! It was amazing!" Sirius grinned.

"Very good. Now if you would like to take a seat here on this sofa, then I could explain to you what I have learned. I need to ask you a private question first though."

They both sat down and watched as Dumbledore conjured a tea table with a complete tea on top of it and poured cups for all of them. Remus added sugar and milk, Sirius drank it black.

"Just ask, Professor, if it should be too private we can still choose not to reply..." Remus said.

"Absolutely. What I have learned only works if both of you are still a virgin. In other words I need to know if you have already taken your relationship to the more intimate stage and if not, if you are planning on doing so."

"Oh..." Remus blushed.

"No, we haven't and yes, we want to," Sirius replied, unfazed.

"And neither of you have had previous sexual experiences of any kind?" Dumbledore asked on.

"Well, we've done some things..." Sirius admitted, "just not gone all the way..."

Dumbledore smiled and said:

"That should not be a problem, then I can tell you what I have found. You have certainly heard over and over again that werewolves are supposed to mate for life and that the bond would be established through the first intercourse, have you not?"

"I've read that in more books than I care to count, Professor. Even my Mum asked me what I thought about this. I said I couldn't imagine, but what do I know? I've been in love with Sirius for the past two years and before I wasn't even interested in anything like a relationship," Remus explained.

"I would have thought so. Now it isn't a myth for no reason. You know that one says that there is no smoke without a fire, however tiny. This book here..." he summoned a thin old volume, "tells of life-bonded werewolves. It talks about them becoming very powerful through their bond, no matter whether they were bonded with another werewolf or with a fully human partner. It also does not matter whether it is a member of their own or the other gender. It talks about the rites to activate the bond, which are indeed of a sexual nature. The only condition according to this is that both partners want to be bonded and are virgins. I have dug a bit deeper and have found that since the days when the prejudices against werewolves started to bloom there were no bonded werewolves registered anymore, but upon inquiry the Registry did not say that these bonds were banned. In other words if the two of you would like to bond, which would be for life, mind you, then you could follow the rites and become a life-bonded couple. It would provide you with more protection that any other werewolf in this country could ever have, Mr. Lupin."

Sirius looked at Remus who sat white-faced and still. He knew that he would never love anyone the way he loved his Moony and he waited with baited breath for what Remus would have to say to this proposition. Remus stared straight ahead and swallowed.

"I know I will love Sirius for as long as I live. But would it be fair to him?" Remus asked with a small voice.

"You should read this book together, Remus, and then you would soon realise that the bond serves both parties. The powers you will gain, Sirius will gain as well. Read this and when you return from your break, tell me what you think of it. Will that be fine with you?"

Remus nodded and took the proffered book. They talked briefly about their vacation so far and that they were doing fine, then Dumbledore led them to the fireplace and said:

"You can both floo back home from here."

They both took a pinch of floo powder and wished Dumbledore a good night before speeding off through the network. Landing safely in the Lupins' living room fireplace they informed Remus' waiting parents of the conversation with the headmaster. Richard looked astounded.

"So there really is something in the myth, but not what is commonly perceived?" he asked.

"According to Dumbledore it takes quite a while to become bonded. He told us to read about the rites in here," Remus said and showed the book.

"Would you let me read that when you're done with it, love?" Venetia asked.

Richard smiled, Remus grinned and said:

"Of course. It's not going to take long."

"Great. Now off to bed with you two! It's time! James and Peter will be here tomorrow!"

"Yes, we're off! Goodnight!" Sirius said.

Back in Remus' room they stripped their clothes and crawled into the bed. Remus picked up the book again and sighed.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" he asked.

"I do want to stay with you, love, you know that?" Sirius asked softly.

"I know. Well, there's nothing for it, I want to know what this means. Only then can we build an informed opinion."

He turned on his stomach, shoved the pillow underneath his chest and opened the book. Sirius turned and read along. There were only something more than a hundred pages, so they read it through in one go. And when they were through they looked at each other. Remus sat up again.

"Let's go through this more slowly, now that we know what it's about. It says here that werewolves can be bonded for life. Both partners have to be virgins. Well, technically we are, because we haven't gone all the way... we have to seclude ourselves for seven days and make love for the first time, then keep skin contact for seven times twenty-four hours and within that time frame have to make love at least once every twelve hours and then we'd be bonded?"

"Sounds pretty nice to me..." Sirius said with a grin.

Remus grinned, too.

"Fucking at least once every twelve hours. And never once lose skin contact. We'd have to practically stick together for that time."

"We'd not leave the bed anyway. We could use a shawl and wrap it around our hands when we sleep. That would guarantee not losing skin contact by accident."

"That's a whole week of fucking, Sirius!" Remus brought to the point.

"What's wrong with that? Are you afraid of not holding up? If even I am not afraid of that then you shouldn't be either... you can get it up in half the time I can..."

"No, that's not it... just - when would we do it? Because I don't want to wait until the next longer break!"

"Well, I'm quite sure Dumbledore will come up with ideas when we speak to him and tell him we'd be interested."

Remus looked thoughtful. Sirius felt a pang of disappointment at his hesitance, even though it was typical for his Moony to first think everything through. Remus read over the passage that talked of the consequences.

"High awareness of the partner's needs and feelings. Magical power surge by a factor of up to ten! Well that's a big plus. What with that Voldemort person and his followers around we'd make some difference to the Light side, that's for sure. Sexual performance raised in both partners. That's all on the plus side. Actually the only thing that speaks against it is your usual rashness, love..."

"My usual rashness tells me that this will be good for both of us so why not do it? I love you, Remus. You know I do."

Remus turned to Sirius and kissed him.

"Yes, Sirius, I know you do. I love you, too. But you're aware of the fact that once again I'd be one of Dumbledore's study objects? Only that this time you'd be a part of it. I already feel like I'm his social study laboratory rat sometimes."

"Even if... let him have his fun and study us, we'll just be happily mated."

Remus laughed.

"Okay. Let's give this to Mum in the morning and see what she makes of it."

They did that the next morning. Both allowed themselves to sleep in and turned up in the living room shortly before lunch.

"I suppose you are ready to skip breakfast and dig right into lunch," Richard teased, looking amused.

"We've read the book last night and discussed it..." Remus admitted.

"I expected that you would. So what does it say?" Richard asked.

Remus outlined the contents. His father listened with interest and said:

"I'll check into the legal side of this, Remus. It feels like fully blown marriage to me."

"It did to me, too," Remus confirmed.

"That would have a few legal consequences. But those are certainly beneficial for both of you. You are both of age now, so no consent of a guardian will be necessary. I can see why Dumbledore suggested it for you two, he'd be keen on having two exceptionally powerful wizards firmly on the Light side and in his ranks."

"That's what makes me pondering over it. I feel a bit manipulated to be quite honest."

"I can see where you're coming from, I think I would, too, if I were in your position, Remus. But if you discuss this with Albus, tell him. Tell him that you feel this way, if you don't tell him and go through with this under his supervision then you'd be in his hands, both of you."

"Okay, that's what I'll do then."

Venetia sat down with the book after lunch, rolled up in her favourite armchair next to the fire. She thought of Remus through reading the book, tried to apply the facts to him and think about them fitting her son or not. At the end she turned to Richard, passed him the text and said:

"Read it for yourself, Richard. Personally I think it would be precisely what is needed to bind Remus into our society, to give him a home with someone who doesn't cast him out. And to give him security."

Richard was still reading when the fire turned green and Peter stepped out of it, carrying his trunk and grinning at the Lupins.

"Hello, Peter! It's nice to see you here!" Venetia welcomed him.

"Hello, Mrs Lupin! I'm happy to be here. It wasn't easy to convince my parents to let me come. Christmas break is something almost sacro-family-sanct to them, you know. But new year seems to be okay."

_'Funny,' thought Harry, 'how I never even think of Peter as the traitor anymore? I've seen him through the eyes of his friends now for so many years, and I can see how he could fool them easily. Peter Pettigrew wasn't actually such a bad person after all…_

Venetia laughed.

"Well, it is a family time alright. But friends are just as important as families, as it's with your friends you're planning your lives after leaving your parents' home to build up a new home of your own. Let's find Sirius and Remus, I think they went upstairs after lunch."

She led Peter up the stairs and to Remus' bedroom, where they found the two boys actually busying themselves with homework for Potions.

"Yay! Hi Peter! Good to see you, mate!" Sirius called out and jumped up from the bed where he had been reading over the book text to prepare his essay.

"Hi Sirius! Hi Remus! It's great to be here! Ten days left of the break and we're all together, that's great!"

"Shall I show Peter where he and James sleep, Mum?" Remus asked, getting up to slap Peter's shoulder in greeting.

"If you would do so, love, that would be just fine. Dinner at six thirty, okay? Anyone offering me help?"

Sirius offered. He was only learning to cook with Remus and Venetia, but he enjoyed their time together in the kitchen and he could easily see why Remus liked it so much to cook with his mother.

"Thank you, Sirius. Come down in about an hour, okay?"

"I will, Mrs Lupin!"

"Oh, it's about time you started calling me Venetia. If I read that book right, you're going to become something like my son-in-law, don't you think it would sound rather idiotic to call your mother-in-law by her title and surname?"

Remus grinned. He pulled Peter from the room to show him the guestroom. Peter asked him:

"What was that all about?"

"Well, Siri and I want to stay together, no? So she's becoming like his mother-in-law..."

"Ah! I see. Oh, this is a nice room."

"You like it? Good. You can choose the bed."

"Looks like a state room to me," Peter mumbled.

"Dad is head of his department, he's got visitors to entertain sometimes. It has to be looking a bit stately for those, you know."

"Oh yes, I forgot."

"Come back to my room when you're settled, okay?"

"I will. Thanks, Remus!"

Ten minutes later Peter was joined by James, who dropped his stuff and came back to Remus' room just before Sirius left them to go and help in the kitchen. Like Peter and Sirius, James had never been to the Lupins' home before, they had always met at the Potters', when they were able to meet outside of school.

"This is quite a posh place!" he remarked.

"Just wait until you meet the whole family, James! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and Venetia has invited all of her children for the party, that will be a lot of guests and then some," Sirius said.

"Wow. An official party?" James asked.

"Yes. We have that one every year."

"I'm looking forward to meet more of your siblings, Rem. How are they?"

"Don't worry, they're great. Pampered me to no end. Mum said it was good that there wasn't much to spoil in me, because I'm so innately good, otherwise my older siblings would have done it..."

James laughed.

"She must know you well."

"She does, believe me. No one knows me as well as she does. Well, except maybe Sirius."

Richard had read the book. Remus' outline was quite accurate he thought, then he got up and went to the kitchen.

"Finished?" Venetia asked.

"Yes. Remus summed it up well. - What do you think about it, Sirius?" he wanted to know.

"I think it's a good thing. I think it would give Remus some security, which he'll need badly once he's out on his own. He'll have a base in our relationship to rest and get new energy for the everyday battle he'll surely have to fight. He'll need reassurance all over the place. Remus is very strong, but people can hurt him easily and many do," Sirius said.

"You're thinking of Remus so much, Sirius," Richard said softly, "But what would you gain?"

Sirius smiled and looked Richard directly in the eyes.

"The love of one of the most wonderful people I had the chance to meet until now. Peace. Togetherness in a way I never knew before. Security, too. Someone who understands me. Who can guide me. And sex."

Richard laughed, but he put the book down on a pile of other books that were already on the end of the kitchen counter, then he pulled Sirius into a hug.

"Welcome to the family, son," he said softly.

He ruffled Sirius' black tresses and added to his wife and with a twinkle in his eyes:

"And that's the final touch of testosterone for you, my love!"

Sirius looked from Richard to Venetia trying to understand, but noticed it was a private joke between them.

"Well, if the level of active brain cells would rise in the same proportion as the level of testosterone in this house I'd concede..." Venetia countered.

Richard laughed and released Sirius.

"You could call me Richard now, Sirius."

"Thank you, Richard, I will..."

Dinner was a pleasant affair. They had to eat in the dining room, because there were eight people at the table. Richard offered the older boys some wine to their meal and told Venetia:

"But you're not going to cook yourself tomorrow, love? That would be a bit much... there are too many guests..."

"Tishy will cook. I'll just enjoy what she produces. It IS becoming a bit much for me."

The boys were more than willing to help with the decoration of the living and dining room for the party. There would be quite a lot of guests from the Ministry as well. At five Venetia looked around and decided:

"Good job, everyone! Now, off to get showered and dressed with all of you!"

They all vanished in their bathrooms, to wash up and get dressed into their formal dress robes, which would be required for such a dinner party. The older Lupin children came in until shortly before half past six, then the invited guests arrived. They were received at the door by one of the Ministry house-elves who took their cloaks and hats. The formal living room filled up with guests for the socialising before the dinner, then they were led to the dining room where the large table was set up beautifully. Someone complimented Venetia on the decorations.

"I've had the help of my lovely boys for that. They did a nice job, didn't they?"

The evening went by quite nicely, but soon after the New Year had been welcomed, the guests started to leave the house again. The boys had drunk a bit too much and went to sleep in. They didn't turn up before lunch the next morning.

In the next days Remus became moodier, paler and clung more to Sirius than ever, knowing that the dreaded cellar awaited him on the fifth. They still hadn't told Richard and Venetia about their Animagi and when the evening came Remus had to go down to the cellar. James, Peter and Sirius all wanted to go along, but Remus said:

"No, there's not enough space in there! You can't come with me."

"I can and I will," Sirius insisted.

After half an hour of discussion Remus finally conceded and accepted Sirius. James and Peter thought that was okay, just as long as Remus wasn't alone. Remus went to get his usual hug from his mother and Richard pointed to the watch to remind Remus that it was time to go down. Sirius went along and slipped inside of the room just as Richard wanted to close the door.

"Sirius! Are you crazy? Come out here this instant!" Richard shouted.

"No. He'll not attack me, I promise. I've been with him for a few full moons now and since I'm not a werewolf you can rest assured that he will not hurt me," Sirius said stubbornly and pushed the door closed from the other side.

Richard was speechless, but one look at the watch told him it was too late to fight this out. He locked and secured the door to the transformation room and went back up to find James and Peter, but for some reason they were nowhere to be found.

"Now that's strange..." he thought.

And he worried for the whole night about Sirius and about his son. What if Remus killed his lover? He usually slept little on full moon nights, but this night he didn't find sleep at all. It was Venetia who went down to retrieve Remus in the morning as usual, but Richard accompanied her on this day.

"Why are you coming along, love?" she asked him.

"Because Remus wasn't alone in there last night. I can't believe what Sirius did, but it was too late to discuss last night. I'm full of horror images of what could have happened, Venetia!"

She was shocked and hurried up to open the door to the cellar, where she found nothing unusual apart from the fact that the room didn't smell of blood. She turned on the light and found no traces of blood whatsoever. Richard gaped. The two boys were lying on the mattress, covered with a blanket, both asleep. Remus didn't even have a scratch. Venetia closed her eyes and opened them again, but there was still nothing to be seen. She looked at Richard.

"I don't know what to say. You'd think he didn't even transform..." he mumbled.

"You have no idea how glad I am that you didn't tell me about this last night," she said.

"I thought you would be. Let's get them upstairs..."

Both of them levitated one of the boys and brought them upstairs into their bed. As soon as Venetia straightened the duvet over them they turned to each other and slept on in each others' arms. Venetia smiled.

"They're so cute," she said.

Richard just smiled, put his arm around her shoulder and closed the door.

"They still owe me an explanation for that terrible night they've caused me to have," he said.

"Absolutely. Could have said something before. I really wonder how Sirius would survive this, too."

Richard had an idea: "Could it be that a werewolf doesn't attack a mate?"

"I can't imagine that. The whole thing is a mystery to me."

They had to wait until the afternoon when Remus and Sirius finally woke up shortly after lunch. Sirius stretched and immediately turned to Remus, who was waking up, too. Sirius leaned in and kissed his lover.

"Morning, love."

"Morning, Siri."

"How are you?"

"Sore, but okay."

Sirius looked Remus over and kissed him again. He left the bed and got dressed quickly, to go down to the kitchen and fetch something to eat for Remus. He met Richard and Venetia there, who were quietly talking with James and Peter. Venetia looked up when she saw him coming.

"Oh, there you are, Sirius. Is Remus awake, too?" she asked.

"Hi. Yes, and he says he's sore but okay."

"Good. Then go ahead, Sirius, I believe, you have something to tell me..." Richard said.

Sirius grinned and transformed. He stretched out his front paws and looked up with big doggy eyes and the ears flopped to the front. Venetia started laughing out loud. She pointed at the dog, giggled and finally said:

"Wouldn't that just fit for Sirius to be a DOG!"

James and Peter snickered.

"Remus thought so, too, Mrs Lupin."

"No wonder the two of you go together so well!"

Venetia petted the dog in front of her. Then she looked up to James and said:

"Well, now I'm also getting the point of Remus calling Sirius Padfoot. Come back, Sirius..."

Sirius transformed back, sat on the carpet and crossed his legs. He grinned boyishly and looked up.

"We desperately wanted to find something to help Remus. Knowing how he suffered out there was so hard to take. We saw how he looked after his transformations. So we decided to do this. Werewolves can bite animals all they like they won't change them to werewolves. Now he isn't alone anymore."

Richard still didn't know what to say.

"That's... I don't know what to say, really. This is incredible. You're an Animagus? How on earth did you manage that?"

"Worked on it for more than two years. James and Peter are Animagi, too."

"What? So what's your animal forms?"

James showed off his stag and Peter transformed into the rat. Sirius picked the little rat up and scratched it on the head. The Lupins just shook their heads and sat there, looking at the animals in their house in awe.

"You boys are absolutely amazing. Does anyone know about this?"

"Only Poppy Pomfrey. We're going to tell Dumbledore one of these days though," Sirius replied, while James and Peter transformed back.

"We thought of keeping it a secret until we leave Hogwarts, but we had to tell someone, so we thought we'd entrust Madam Pomfrey with it, she promised to keep it a secret," James said, "but we'll register when we leave school."

Sirius got up again and asked:

"I think I should do what I wanted to do when I came down... get something to eat for Remus..."

Venetia stood up as well and led the way to the kitchen.

"I've got a broth on the stove for Remus. He usually likes to eat lightly after his transformations. Here, would you take that bowl up for him?"

"Yep."

Venetia quickly put a tray on the table with a fairly well sized bowl of soup and two slices of bread. She added a big goblet of orange juice.

"There you go. And what would you like?"

"Something left from lunch?"

"Sure! Take that to Remus, then come down and get yours, okay?"

"Just fine!" Sirius beamed, took the tray and levitated it upstairs to take it to Remus.

James and Peter had arrived there already and talked with Remus.

"Hey, sweetie, here's your lunch!" Sirius called.

He set up the tray in front of Remus who smiled and started to eat.

"I'm going back down to get mine now!"

Sirius returned with another tray five minutes later and sat down next to Remus to eat his lunch. They chatted while the two boys ate. Somehow neither Sirius nor Remus brought up the topic of their plan to get life-bonded in the near future. Both seemed to think it was something too private to talk about, even otherwise outgoing Sirius never even started to hint something about it.

The rest of their break was spent with lots of playing, laughing and some talking about what was going on at the school. They returned to Hogwarts in high spirits.


	6. 05 - Mated!

A/N: This chapter contains lemons - as the title already suggests :-) so - if that's not your cup of tea then look for these signs and jump them to the next row where the lemon ends:

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I don't tend to write sex for sex's sake, and I hope I've done it tastefully enough not to come through as anything else than what it's meant to be: making love.

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Mated!**

On one of the first days back to school Sirius and Remus were called to Dumbledore's office. They went up there after dinner and were welcomed warmly. Remus returned the book to the headmaster.

"Have you thought it all through?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes, we have. We want to do it," Sirius said.

"Very well. I will allow you to miss your classes for a week, though you will have to do the work afterwards of course. For that we have prepared a room where you can spend that week completely on your own. Your meals will be brought to you by house-elves. At the end of the time I will call you back. And the door will be hidden completely, so that no one can disturb you."

Remus looked at Sirius.

"And when..." he started.

"Right now is probably the best time," Dumbledore said cheerfully and stood up from his chair.

Remus and Sirius gasped. They followed Dumbledore to a corridor leading away from the headmaster's office down to his private quarters and then down a spiral staircase to another part of the tower which was topped by the headmaster's office. Three levels down they walked and then they were shown a small suite with a living area and a bedroom as well as a bathroom.

"This will be your place for the next seven days. Remember that you will need skin contact throughout the seven times twenty-four hours. You may never let go or it will all be for naught. Do you trust yourselves to maintain that contact throughout your stay here?"

Remus swallowed and nodded.

"We thought we could use a shawl or something to ensure the contact when we sleep," Sirius said.

"That is a very good idea. Now, you can summon house-elves through this little bell, which will sound down in the kitchens. There are some clothes for you in the bedroom, comfortable enough for day wear."

Dumbledore waved his wand and Sirius held a long silk scarf, long enough to wrap around their wrists comfortably. Sirius smiled.

"I will leave you to it then. I will inform your friends that you will be out of their dorm for the next week. Did you tell them about your plans?"

"No, we didn't."

"Do you want me to give them the reason for your absence?"

"Not this one," Remus said, blushing.

"Very well. Have an excellent week, gentlemen!"

Dumbledore left the room, closed the door and sealed it, even though no one normally got to this part of the castle. Remus and Sirius looked at each other. Sirius pulled his lover into an embrace and kissed him.

"How about starting this with a bath?" he asked.

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Remus nodded into his shoulder. He felt very insecure all of a sudden. He hadn't expected something like this so soon. But now there wasn't much left for them than pulling it through. They decided to go to the bathroom and shed their clothes. There was a nice large tub that beckoned them in as soon as they filled it and they took the opportunity to wash up thoroughly. A bit reluctantly they left the bath and dried themselves off. Sirius spell dried his long hair and brushed it shiny. Remus smiled, watching him at it. He took the opportunity to look at his lover. Sirius was tall, well built and had left all traces of baby fat behind long ago. His torso was well toned from the Quidditch training as a beater. Straight legs. Thick black pubic hair and a thin down of hair up to his navel and on his arms. Quite a bit of hair on his chest. Remus gently caressed Sirius over his upper arms and continued to his chest, down to his stomach. He smiled, because when he just stroked over Sirius' cock lightly he could feel it harden.

"Mm," Sirius moaned.

They quickly brushed their teeth and went to look at the bedroom. It was beautifully decorated and Sirius thought it must be a guestroom for high standing guests of the school. There was a superbly decorated four poster at one end, with dark blue velvet hangings, the bed was covered with light blue silk sheets and downy duvets in the same shiny dark blue as the hangings. There were carpets on the floor, wonderfully worked and soft to the touch of the boys' feet.

"Wow."

"Looks like paradise for our honeymoon, love!" Sirius remarked with a smirk.

"Yeah..."

They pulled back the covers and climbed into the bed, where they settled down for some cuddling.

"I love you, Moony! Can't wait to feel you inside of me..."

"Sure you don't want to make the start, love?" Remus asked back, stroking Sirius' side.

"Absolutely."

"Well then..."

Sirius kissed Remus again and Remus returned the kiss immediately, both of them slowly getting hotter and more comfortable. Remus felt his skin reacting to Sirius' caresses. Having slept in the same bed since summer and having done a lot of things except for that last go Sirius knew exactly what he had to do to get Remus hot and hard. He kissed his lover again and after endless heated exchanges of kisses he moved down following the jaw to the throat and over the collarbone down to Remus' nipples, where he made a short stop on his way down to Remus' crotch. Remus caressed Sirius' back, stroked over the spine to Sirius' buttocks and gripped the one he could reach.

And Sirius found his way to that already hard organ he wanted to feel sheathed firmly inside of himself. He licked it for a bit and then drew back to blow on it. Remus drew a sharp breath and sat up, becoming active now. He pulled Sirius into another kiss and shoved him on his back on the bed to take care of his cock for a while before starting to prepare him. Sirius turned around to lie on his stomach. Remus let his hands run over Sirius' back again.

"Come on, start working on it, love!" Sirius urged him.

"I love that view and I enjoy it, sweetheart," Remus replied.

Sirius growled.

"Anything amiss?" Remus teased.

"Get on with it now! I want to feel you inside of me, Remus!"

"Patience is a virtue, love."

Remus said the spell that would clean Sirius' intestines completely. He cast a little lubrication spell and spread some of the stuff on Sirius' opening, nudging at the puckered ring of muscles to relax them as well as he could, then he started pressing his finger inside. Sirius moaned softly.

"Feels good..." he mumbled.

"Really? Well, then I'll continue, I think..."

"Yeah... go in deeper!"

Remus pushed in deeper, came back out again and slid a second finger in with the first. He hooked around behind the opening for a moment to loosen the muscles. He found that he glided well with his lubricated fingers, so he pressed them in as deep as he could get, until he was stopped by the rectal wall. He felt a round object behind and pushed against it. Sirius cried out loud, startled Remus who pulled his fingers back out immediately.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, love, did I hurt you that badly?"

Sirius breathed hard, shook his head and finally said:

"No! Not hurt! That was the bloody most incredible feeling! Can you go there again?"

Relieved, Remus returned to the previous place and searched for the same spot again.

"Yes!" Sirius hissed.

"'S that it?"

"Spot on! Rub it a little!"

Remus followed the order, smiling, but concentration showing on his face. Sirius instinctively pulled up his knees and lifted his body up a bit, pushing against the fingers.

"Oh Merlin, this is good! It's a shot at my cock every time you as much as brush this spot!" he exclaimed.

"Wow."

It had been a good thing that the boys had taken their time to become more intimate, they were at ease with each others' bodies now, they knew what turned them on and they were ready to find out new things. It wasn't awkward at all, and after the initial surprise that they would go ahead with it at this point already it became exploration territory for Remus. He greatly enjoyed that exploration and so it didn't take him long to figure out how to pass this very tight opening of his mate's with his cock. Sirius knew the size of that cock already, after all he had learned to swallow most of it down in the past six months. He expected to feel quite a bit of pain. But since they weren't in a hurry Remus took his time in preparing Sirius. And Sirius loved his lover's work, since it turned him on immensely. He lifted himself up a bit and pushed against the fingers poking around inside of him. He felt Remus' free hand on his butt to keep the skin contact while the other hand picked up the cock. Remus placed the tip, slicked with a bit more of the lube right under the opening to push up just a little and breach the barrier. He gave a pretty good shove and the head slipped inside.

"Aww..." Sirius made.

"Hurts?"

"Not much... feels great!" Sirius assured him.

Remus pushed and found himself deep inside of Sirius.

"Yes, it does feel great," he moaned.

Sirius pushed against the cock, Remus pushed back and after a while they found a rhythm. Remus moaned and growled all the while he thrust into Sirius, the growing tension in his cock made him go faster and faster until he couldn't hold back anymore and let go, coming with more cries and growls than Sirius had so far heard from him. At the same time he grabbed Sirius' cock and stroked it, giving a lot of pressure to the head, when he pushed the foreskin over it. Sirius yowled, growled and finally came with a howl that fit the huge dog he was. They slumped down on the bed and Remus pulled back out. He buried his face in the small of Sirius' back for a moment. Some of his semen oozed out from Sirius' opening. Remus sniffed it and spread it over the cleft.

Sirius slowly turned around, facing Remus again.

"Gods, I loved that," he said, still panting.

Remus smiled and kissed him.

"I did, too. Won't mind to do that a couple of times in the next days..."

"Does it have to be every twelve hours, sharp?" Sirius asked.

"I don't think so. The way I understood it, it's more once during the day, once during the night at least."

"Well, we should manage that, what do you think?"

"I think I'll work you back to form, so you can show me how this feels as well..." Remus said.

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Two floors up Dumbledore packed a small globe into his desk and left to tell two boys in the Gryffindor tower that their friends would not be with them for an entire week.

When he entered the common room every noise died down immediately. It was on very rare occasions that the headmaster would turn up in a house common room, and it certainly hadn't been seen in years before this moment. He asked for James and Peter.

"They're up in their dorm, I think. Should I go and call them down here?" a fifth year asked.

"No, I think they would prefer some privacy for what I have to tell them. Thank you, I am going there."

He knocked on the door, which was opened by a worried looking James, who was rather surprised to see the headmaster in the door.

"Professor! We are missing Remus and Sirius, weren't they coming to see you after dinner?"

"Yes, James, which is why I am here. May I come inside?"

"Yes, of course..."

The room was slightly messy, but Dumbledore didn't seem to be fazed by that fact. He just said:

"Your two friends will be out of commission for a full week. Expect them back next Tuesday in classes."

"Oh! But why? They're not being punished for something or other, are they?" Peter asked anxiously.

"No, Mr. Pettigrew, but there is something they have to do and they can only do this completely undisturbed. Do not go and look for them, because if they are being interrupted it would be very bad indeed. Rest assured that they are not in any kind of danger and they are well."

James still looked very worried. This sounded very suspicious.

"I'm worried about them..." he said.

"There is no need to worry, believe me. The worst that can happen to them is that they will feel a little sore and tired. May I ask the two of you to take meticulous notes in your lessons, because they will have to go through their homework for this week later on. And once again I must stress that you do not go looking for them, they will be back in a week. And they will probably tell you then what their task was."

"Okay, Professor, I promise not to go looking for them. Quidditch practice will be a bit difficult without my Seeker and one of my Beaters though."

"That shouldn't harm your success in the sport, Mr. Potter. That much I can promise you!"

But the moment Dumbledore had left them, James ran to his trunk to retrieve the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good," he said and waited for the map to show on the parchment.

Then he and Peter started to look over it to find where Remus and Sirius were.

"What the heck? I can't see them," Peter said.

"Neither can I. Do you think they might be outside of the castle?"

"No idea..."

"Let's follow the headmaster... there he goes, straight back to his office. Oh! There they are, almost only one dot, look! Where is that? It looks like it's right underneath Dumbledore's office!"

"We won't be getting in there... and he was really adamant that we don't follow them."

"Yeah. I still wonder, but there's probably nothing we can do..."

But they kept the map under their eyes the whole evening. The two dots never parted, they just moved on a very small bit of the map and always stayed connected.

"That's strange. Do you think they're shagging?" Peter asked.

James looked at him in shock.

"Looks like they're very close in any case. Do you really think Dumbledore is letting them shag and covering for it? Why would he do that? I mean, he obviously knows what they're up to... and it's supposed to take a whole week!"

"Can't really imagine that. But seeing them connected all the time can't mean much different than them doing something very intimate," Peter thought aloud.

"Yeah, you're right about that."

The next day Peter and James went to their classes as usual and wondered that not one teacher asked about the absence of Sirius and Remus. The girls noticed that the boys didn't turn up for breakfast and asked James and Peter about it.

"If their missing costs us any more points, Potter..." Lily said in a menacing tone.

"...then what?" James shot back.

"Let's just say that you're not the only one who knows a good hex or two," she replied coldly and tapped her left hand with the wand held in her right.

"Well, let me assure you that Dumbledore in person told us last night they'd be gone for a full week and would return to school next Tuesday. And that's all he was ready to tell us."

"Oh... well, that puts Remus out of commission as a prefect..." she growled.

"Obviously. Complaints care of the headmaster, please," said James and went past her to get into the Transfigurations classroom.

After three days in their room Remus and Sirius had almost lost all sense of time. They were happily coupling and hardly left their bed. Only when a house-elf knocked on the door informing them that food was on the table in the living room did they take breaks. The meals brought in was the only thing that helped them remembering to keep their lovemaking to be at least once in every twelve hours.

Getting up meant taking care not to lose skin contact. They used the scarf, which they wound around Remus' right and Sirius' left wrist, since Remus was ambidextrous and could use his left hand as well as his right to eat. They would only pull a pair of silk pyjama pants on and sit cosily on the sofa by the fire to eat the delicious food they got. At one point Remus thought that the drinks were spiked with aphrodisiacs, or how else could he go on and on for so many days?

Since there were a few books and a chessboard around they didn't get all too bored. They took the chessboard over to their bed and played a few matches there. Remus found a neat novel in the bookshelf and started reading it to Sirius while Sirius lounged next to him on the bed caressing him. They managed to never lose their skin contact quite easily, since they were practically glued to each other. It was only a bit awkward having to go to the toilet with the partner holding on, but that only enhanced their shared intimacy. And all the while they noticed that their magic sparkled. It started after about four days. Remus had left his wand on the table in the living room and needed it for something. Sirius' wand lay out of reach as well.

"Can we get up and retrieve either yours or my wand, please, Siri?" Remus whined.

"Let's try a little wandless summoning," Sirius said, pointed his index finger in the direction of his wand and casting "Accio wand".

The wand came bursting over, almost knocking the wind out of Sirius.

"Wow," said Remus.

"Wow indeed. I know that summoning spells are no problem for me anymore, but I don't think anything ever came flying to me like this! Will have to learn to dose the spell down, I think!"

"Let me try it, too..."

Remus summoned his wand from the other room and was rewarded with the same result. Then they tried a few spells from the Charms textbook and found that they had to be very careful in casting them if they didn't want to have everything overdone. They dropped their wands.

"That's bloody amazing! Now I see what Dumbledore meant with a surge of power that would come with the mating..." Sirius said.

"Do you think that it will be even more? I mean we still have a couple of days left here, don't we?"

"Yes, we do. I don't think that's the peak. This will be scary! Snivellus be warned!" Sirius giggled.

"You will NOT misuse that power on Severus, Sirius! That would be highly unfair now," Remus chided his lover.

Sirius pouted and sighed.

"Yes, I suppose you are right."

It was time for their dinner and then they returned to their bed which had been redone by the house-elves while they ate. It was now a lovely shade of lavender, the bed curtains, pillow-cases and the duvet covers a nice darker violet.

"Not exactly a very male colour that," Sirius moaned.

"Meaning you won't shag me on that or what?" Remus inquired.

"I'll not go that far in rejecting it," Sirius countered immediately and pulled Remus down.

A few hours later they connected their arms with the scarf again. Remus pressed his back firmly on Sirius' front and felt Sirius' arm around his waist.

The seven days and seven nights passed quickly. At the end of them they were both extremely exhausted. They slept through most of the last day, taking the time to make some more love in the late morning and the late afternoon. And in the late evening they were finally released by the headmaster, who entered the living room, calling for them. Receiving no immediate reply he went on and poked his head around the door to their bedroom. Both were under the duvets and slept. Dumbledore smiled contentedly. He had followed their progress and knew that their increased power had started to unfold days before. It was now just a few minutes before their full seven times twenty-four hours would run out. Dumbledore checked the watch by which he had timed the days and just as he was about to move to the bed to wake them the boys sat up and turned to each other.

"Remus, my love..." Sirius whispered.

"Siri... I love you!" Remus said and crawled onto Sirius' lap.

He took the scarf off with a mere nod of his head and embraced Sirius tightly, kissing him deeply. Sirius' arms closed around his mate's shoulder.

"Have you felt that? It went through me like a whiplash!" Sirius said.

"Yeah, it woke me up. And I had a whole rush of images running through my head!"

"Me too! They looked like memories of your family."

Remus' eyes widened.

"Then it was what happened to you at your home what I saw? Oh goddess, Sirius! That was all terrifying! What they did to you..."

Sirius' face darkened. He hated it that Remus knew about that.

"Forget about that, love! It's not important. The only important thing is that I'm free now and that I'm with you! I love you!"

"I love you, too, so much, Siri! It's just so sad what happened to you."

"It's in the past, Remus. I will have to leave it there and possibly forget it."

"Yes, I suppose you're right about that. Do you think our time is up soon?"

Dumbledore took that as his opportunity to knock and tell them:

"Yes, I believe that the time is up and you have succeeded in your mating! You can get up and return to your house now."

Remus looked up.

"That's nice. Though we'll have to face James and Peter now."

"They will be glad to have you back, believe me, Mr. Lupin. Now get dressed and join me in my office, we will still have to talk about a few things."

"Okay, we'll be there in a few minutes."

Dumbledore left and the boys looked for their clothes and got dressed. They walked up the stairs again and entered the headmaster's office. And they were surprised to find Richard and Venetia there who pulled them both into their arms.

"This is such a wonderful moment, boys! We were so afraid Remus would stay alone, you don't know how happy we are for you two!" Venetia said.

"Mum! What are you doing here?"

"We want to be the first to congratulate you! After all, what you just did is a form of getting married."

"Oh. We completely forgot about that part," Remus mumbled.

"They have taken notice of your new status at the Registry, Remus. I'm afraid that my responsibility for you has now been placed into Sirius' hands. All spouses of werewolves are regarded as something akin to a guardian if they're not werewolves. You will both have to turn up there in the next two weeks to sign the respective papers."

Remus' face darkened. He had known that as long as his parents lived they would be responsible for him, but that their responsibility would now be in Sirius' hands was a bit unnerving. Sirius looked at his father-in-law with shock written in his blue eyes.

"You mean, I'm not only Remus' husband, I'm also his guardian? He's of age! Why a guardian?"

Remus pulled lightly on Sirius' sleeve to get his attention.

"Werewolves don't get full maturity, Sirius. If there are no spouses or parents then it's a willing sibling or other relative and if there's no relatives it's an appointed guardian among the Support Unit's staff..." he explained.

"But that's outrageous! Honestly!"

"I know. But right now there isn't too much we can do about it, Sirius, the Ministry is in a pretty ugly state because of this Voldemort person and his followers. Did you know that they call themselves 'Death Eaters'? He's found a fairly large group of supporters all through the wizarding world. We are still looking for a sign to possibly recognise them. But whatever they're up to they are also trying to get the Dark Creatures on their side and it seems they've had a certain amount of success with some werewolves by promising them a cure. That doesn't prepare a very good ground for more liberal werewolf laws," Richard explained.

"And that leads us straight to one of my motivations of seeing the two of you mated. Believe me that it is not the top reason, because in the first place I wanted to see the two of you in a happy and hopefully very long lasting relationship. But this procedure has strengthened your power. We will begin with an enhanced training for you two in the next weeks. You will be going through more advanced Transfiguration, Defence, Charms and Potions training than any of your friends. You will receive extra Auror training by two or three Aurors from the Ministry and you will learn to cast more advanced curses. I will personally work with you. We need to get you ready to help in the fight against Lord Voldemort, as he calls himself. Let me tell you that behind this Lord Voldemort is a former student of Hogwarts, who unfortunately is a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin and takes Slytherin's preference of pure-blooded wizards and witches to the extreme, and his plans include killing every Muggle-born witch and wizard as well as all half-bloods and if he can get rid of all the Muggles he will do that, too. And finally his hobby seems to be to find a way to bypass death and become immortal," Dumbledore continued.

Sirius and Remus stared at him open-mouthed and terrified. Both gulped and turned to look at Richard and Venetia, who looked grim and hardly less terrified.

"I didn't know it was quite that bad," Richard admitted. "My Aurors are doing their utmost, but they are usually too late on the scenes."

"I am afraid it is. - Now, I am not forcing this on you two, but you would certainly become an asset to our side and would do a lot of good to win what this will become in the next two or three years, a full war. But would you be willing to undergo this training?"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other for a moment and took each others' hands, then Remus nodded.

"Yes sir, we would. We noticed that we will need the training to control all that magic that's grown in us anyway. And there's something I need to tell you, sir..." Sirius replied.

"I knew I could count on you. Thank you very much. What is it that you need to tell me?"

Sirius grinned and transformed into the dog. As usual, Remus put his hand on Padfoot's head and petted him, brushing the shaggy hair from his eyes. It wasn't such a shock for Richard and Venetia anymore, but McGonagall, who was in the room as well, gasped audibly. Dumbledore's eyes showed the famous twinkle. He was quite surprised, but he didn't show it. Minerva recovered quickly and scolded Sirius:

"Sirius Black! Are you aware of how dangerous that is? It's a miracle you got this right!"

Padfoot just sat and tilted his head slightly, panted, wagged his tail and looked at them with those incredibly big and moist pale blue grey eyes. And he basically behaved fully like the dog he was. Not even Minerva was able to withstand that doggy glance and Remus had to laugh as he watched her face turning from looking at the dog sternly to being touched. Sirius had won her over as he always did. Her best Transfigurations student in the year, how could she be mad at him for a long time? He barked and then turned back.

"Sorry, Professors, we just had to do this..."

"We?" asked Professor Dumbledore.

"James, Peter and I. We just couldn't watch Remus suffer in that shack all alone! So we went about to find something to help him."

"When did you start on that transformation?" Dumbledore asked.

"Right after we figured out he was a werewolf. Took us a while to find out that werewolves would only eat other animals, but were otherwise no danger to them. Then we had to find out how to become Animagi, that took longer."

"Now I know! Irma Pince told us that those three spent an incredibly long time at the library two years ago, Albus. And she was wondering what you were studying..." Minerva said.

"Well, at night we went there to find the books we needed, noted them down and during the day we went to study them. We copied all we needed to know down and worked on it whenever we knew Remus was somewhere else than we were," Sirius told them proudly.

"So you didn't know they were doing this, Remus?" Venetia asked.

Remus shook his head.

"No, it was a complete surprise when they finally showed me."

"And when did you succeed?"

"Christmas break fifth year," Sirius replied.

He heard gasps from everyone in the room.

"You are certainly not registered anywhere, are you?" Dumbledore wanted to know.

"No, of course not. We thought if we turned up at the Ministry to register they would not be commending us for doing this in secret..." Sirius admitted.

"I suppose they would not. But I have to say I am pretty glad about it right now. Do not worry about the Ministry, not registering as an Animagus is illegal, but not a really great offence. I would expect there are a few dozen unregistered Animagi to every registered one. And for our purpose it would certainly be a lot better if not too many people knew about your ability. Who knows besides we here?"

"Only Madam Pomfrey. We told her when we came back after the summer. We thought it would be good if she knew that we stayed with Remus during his transformations."

Minerva gasped again. Only now did she think of that. But she looked at Sirius fondly and said:

"That is friendship as everyone would like to have it..."

Sirius smiled. He took Remus' hand again. Then he asked:

"When's the next Hogsmeade weekend, Professor?"

"The coming Saturday in two weeks."

"Good. I think, Remus and I need rings..."

Richard and Venetia shared an amused glance with Minerva. Venetia looked at Remus and what she saw in his face was pure bliss. Her son had not been this happy since that blasted bite, but if he now found some perks in being a werewolf then she would be very glad for him. She pulled him close and felt him snuggling to her.

"You seem to be so happy now, love," she said.

"I am, Mum. The future doesn't look quite so dark now."

She hugged him again.

"Well, there is not much else that I can tell you right now. Oh, one last question, Sirius. What are the Animagus-forms of Messrs Potter and Pettigrew?"

"James is a stag and Peter is a rat."

"A rat, hm? Wonderful. I think I will have special jobs for a person with such an ability. But for now, off you go, back to your common room, it is already after curfew. Here is the note that will get you off if anyone meets you."

Dumbledore gave Remus a small slip of parchment and the two said goodbye to Richard and Venetia. Both hugged them tightly and said:

"And if you want to come home during the Easter break we'll hold a nice little celebration for your mating."

Remus thanked them and pulled Sirius out of the room. They walked back through the corridors and were 1promptly accosted by Filch who didn't like their slip of parchment at all that allowed them to go back to their house unharmed. When he was gone, Sirius turned and pushed out his tongue at the despised care-taker. Remus pulled him on and they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady who sleepily asked for the password.

"Phoenix tears," Remus replied.

The door swung forward and they entered the common room. Since it was just after eleven there were only a few students left, most of them sixth and seventh years. Lily and her friends were studying at one of the tables, James and Peter sat close to the fireplace. They turned their heads to see who came in so late and James jumped up, shouting:

"Where the hell have you been? We've been sick with worry! No one wanted to tell us anything at all!"

"Hi Jamie, good to see you, too," Sirius replied, somewhat sarcastically.

Dari and Peter stood up and came closer, too, even Lily looked curious but wouldn't let it show too much by coming after her friend.

"Can we sit down, please?" Sirius took the initiative.

He pulled Remus over to one of the squashy sofas, sat down and Remus sat down in his lap. They were still so used to having skin contact that they could barely stand it not touching the other yet. When the others had sat down as well, Sirius started:

"It all started during the Christmas break, when Dumbledore sent us Fawkes with a message and we went to see him. That was just before you two came to the Lupins."

Then all of a sudden, Remus stopped him and looked around. None of the younger students were in the room but he still felt uncomfortable about letting six other students know about his condition, but he knew them all well and trusted them to keep his secret within Gryffindor tower. He looked up at them and said:

"Before we go on I have to confess something to you guys. But you have to promise not to tell anyone outside of this room and if you are uncomfortable with it once you know I will have to ask Professor Dumbledore to memory charm you..."

"I think, I know anyway, Remus," Marjorie, a seventh year girl said.

"You do?" he asked with round eyes.

"Yes. You are a werewolf, aren't you?" she asked.

There were gasps from two seventh year boys behind her, but Lily looked just as unfazed and Dari knew already. Remus nodded.

"Well, I've suspected for a long time. It's not your fault, Remus, and you should not be ashamed of it. Though I do understand why you're not advertising it. So what happened?" Marjorie asked softly.

Remus' eyes moistened and he looked at her from Sirius' shoulder, really thankful for her pragmatism. Sirius continued now:

"Well, apparently the myth about werewolves mating for life isn't just a myth only."

"What! So it's true that the first person a werewolf sleeps with will be the life-bonded mate?" Dari asked.

"Not quite. It's a bit more than that. But yes, it has to do with sex. Both partners have to still be virgins. And if they are willing to undergo the rites then they will be bonded for life. It's more demanding than just having sex for the first time though."

"Do you mean to tell us that you two underwent some archaic rites to become bonded for life?" Lily asked from behind.

She was now far too curious to stay away.

"Yes, that about sums it up. And yes, we're bond-mates now," Remus replied.

"Wow... and what did you have to do?"

"We had to spend exactly seven full days and nights together from the moment we made love for the first time and then keep skin contact, and that means skin on skin, not through fabric for the entire seven days. We were not allowed to let go even for a second. And it included quite a lot more lovemaking," Sirius replied with a grin while Remus blushed crimson.

Sirius caressed him over the back and went on explaining:

"The good thing about it is that we are now legally married! The bond between us can only be broken by the death of one of us. And there's been an immense increase in our magical power! It seems that before the days they passed the first laws against werewolves there were quite a lot of couples like that. It doesn't matter if the werewolf bonds with another werewolf or a human or if the partner is the same or the other gender. They go through the rites and become bonded. Now most werewolves that are created are adults, most of them have already had partners, so they're out of the run, but Dumbledore noticed we were together, asked us whether we had already gone all the way and when we said we didn't he gave us this book in which the rite was described. We had time through the break to think about it and when he called us up to his office we thought we'd just say that we wanted to go through the rite. But he had already prepared these rooms in his tower for us and we went right through it..."

"Wow," was all the others knew to say.

"It was a huge surprise for us that he wanted us to go through right away," Remus said.

"I can imagine."

"And then we started to feel how our magic exploded! It was all amazing. Almost put making love in the shadow!" Sirius said.

"So you're much more powerful now?" Marjorie asked.

"Yes! At one point both of us had left our wands out of reach, so we just summoned them wandlessly and they didn't only come flying, we were almost speared by them! That's where we noticed that we will have to learn to control all that magic. I can imagine that this is the main reason why such couples vanished after the werewolf code of conduct came into being, because no one at the Ministry was very interested in having such powerful werewolves around. There hasn't been a life-bonded werewolf for about four hundred and fifty years."

"Is it illegal?" Peter asked.

"No, it's not. There are holes in the law. It's like a marriage rite and you know that werewolves are allowed to marry, even though each marriage is not only registered in the normal family register, but also at the Werewolf Registry. I mean, there's some who are bitten when they are already married. You can't possibly force them to get a divorce because of this. Especially not if the partner is willing to stand by the infected partner," Remus explained.

"Oh, that's good then. So now you're actually married? That's cute!" Dari exclaimed.

"Yes, we are. And we'll have something to do come next weekend, I want us to wear rings," Sirius said.

"That's so sweet!" Dari said.

"Thanks, Dari! You're a real good friend, you know? You guys are all great, because none of you have put us down for being together. That gives us a real cosy feeling in our stomachs!" Sirius said.

"Well, if you're together you won't hit on any of us, that's fine with me," Ryan, one of the seventh year boys, replied with a grin.

"I don't even know if I'm really gay," Remus said, "I just knew it was Sirius for years. No one else. So maybe I'm not homo- but simply Sirius-sexual."

Everyone in the room laughed and Remus grinned shyly. He found all that attention more than embarrassing, but since the others were okay with it he thawed a bit. Even Lily thought they were a cute couple. They finally went up the stairs to their dormitories. Once the door was closed safely behind them, Remus turned to James and Peter.

"I'm afraid, Sirius and I outed you to Dumbledore and McGonagall, they know about your Animagus forms now," he said.

"Oh. How did they take it?"

"Dumbledore wants us to stay unregistered for the time being. He talked a lot about this Lord Voldemort who's so intent on getting all Muggle-borns and Muggles killed. He says we'd be great assets in the fight against them if we didn't let everyone know about it. And even though I think McGonagall wasn't too happy about us staying illegal, she agreed. Dumbledore thinks that your rat form would be very helpful indeed, Peter," Sirius said.

"Oh, really? I want to help if I can..." Peter said modestly.

"You will be able to help greatly. You know how many times you already got out of scrapes last year because you could hide out as a tiny rat! James and Sirius are much too big to have a chance to get out of something as easily as you can. I could imagine he'd want you to hide and gather information..." Remus explained.

"Wow. That would be great!"

"But let's go to bed, we have to be back in class tomorrow morning and it's late already," Sirius said and went off in the direction of Remus' bed.

"Don't forget silencing charms, if you intend to do your marital duties..." James teased.

Remus just waved his hand. They undressed and went to sleep. It seemed impossible for them to sleep far apart now and he had already got used to snuggling up to Sirius back to front. And immediately he felt Sirius' arm around him upon which Remus was asleep in a moment.

They hadn't missed too much in this first week back after the holidays. But they still had to catch up, which even not so serious Sirius did quite determinedly. The information he had received from Dumbledore about the rise of the Dark Lord had troubled him deeply. He had fled his home for a good part because he would have nothing to do with Voldemort, if he now got a chance to do some good damage in this war he was determined to take it. And if all he could help now was by studying more he would do just that as well.

_Harry had simply watched it all and smiled. So - that ritual boosted the power of the two people who underwent it. He was really looking forward to see what the two boys would be able to achieve. He was worried now that Dumbledore might try to manipulate them into… but the Prophecy wasn't yet out and maybe with this slight change to the time-line it would never go out at all! He would certainly watch out like a hawk for things that might go differently because of this one change. With Fate in his head Dumbledore might go down a completely different route._

_He didn't suppose that Sirius and Remus would have been bonded the first time around, even though he thought they must have been a couple. They were certainly often behaving like a couple, the few times he'd seen them together. He felt a bit sorry for the things he had thrown at Remus when Remus had sought them out at Grimmauld Place. If Remus still loved Sirius he would really be a very reluctant Partner to Tonks! Harry regretted it for a moment that Teddy Lupin would now never become a reality, but that was certainly a small price to pay for happy lives all over. Tonks should never fall in love with Remus now that he was with someone else long before she ever even grew out of her childhood robes._

_'Just all of us stay far away from that horrible place in the Department of Mysteries,' Harry thought._

But amidst all that studying there was still the boys' blossoming love, which they enjoyed quite openly. The next Hogsmeade weekend came and the sixth and seventh years were allowed out a bit longer than the rest. Sirius had convinced James and Peter it would be lovely if they got dates to go to Hogsmeade, so they wouldn't just brood over Remus' and his relationship, but enjoy some happiness of their own. Remus had even gone so far as to chat up a cute Hufflepuff fifth year girl he knew Peter had a crush on, because Peter was too shy to talk to her first. He found out that the girl wouldn't mind going out with Peter. She must have been as shy as Peter was, so with a little help from their friends Peter got the girl. Once together the two seemed very happy. James of course was still after Lily, but she still mostly turned up her pretty nose. Until one day in the common room James exploded:

"You know, Lily, in some ways you're as conceited as you claim me to be! You've just got that image of me in your head and you won't let it go, because you're as stubborn as a mule! Or is it that you find pleasure in seeing me crawling in the dirt in front of you? Sooner or later I will quit, you know, but I don't want to, because I love you!"

With that he stormed off to the dormitory and Dari said:

"He's not all wrong about that, Lily, you know."

Lily shot her an evil glance and stalked off to her own dormitory. Sirius and Remus looked at Dari and they all shrugged.

_Harry understood his father's frustration. He also knew that while everyone looked at Lily with reverence she was no saint. Not that she pretended to be a saint, but she did like to point out others' error of ways regularly. Harry thought that it was time she learnt to take as good as she gave in that regard._

Dari, being the good friend she was, went after Lily and talked to her some more.

"Lily, I know you hate James' guts sometimes, but I also know you don't hate James. He's not just trying to get in your pants, he's in love with you. Hasn't he shown you dozens of times this year? What about all the flowers and the cards? Have you ever seen him with another girl? He's really given you a thoughtful gift for Christmas. He's not been as evil to Snape as he used to be. You should really award him for that restraint, because Snivellus frankly is as evil as he always was, he hasn't grown up one bit. It must have cost James a lot not to hex him half the times Snape provoked him."

This was sound reasoning and Lily knew it. She looked at Dari and said:

"I can't just give in, Dari..."

"Why not? There's a point where you just have to concede. You can always go back on your decision if he takes up hexing people again just because he can. I don't think he will, Lily, because I think he's growing up."

On the other side of the tower Remus talked with James.

"I know that you were right to explode, James, but don't give up just yet. I think she shows signs of giving in..."

"I thought so, too, but that was just a moment I couldn't take any more. What else can I do but show her I've grown up? I love her! There are days I really don't know just why I love her, but I know I do. It's not just that I'm trying to get in her pants and then drop her."

"I know. But if you see her again at dinner go to her and apologise for exploding and ask her out once more. You didn't mind the rejections so far, so what's one more if you're convinced she's the one."

James sighed deeply. Then he nodded and said:

"You're right. That would be a good tactic."

And so in the same evening James passed Lily before going down to the Great Hall for dinner and said softly:

"I'm sorry for exploding like that, Lily. Can you forgive me?"

She looked him in the eyes and said:

"Yeah, I guess I was a bit very harsh. I'm sorry, too."

"So would you go to Hogsmeade with me this Saturday?"

She sighed.

"Oh well, yes, if that's what it takes to get some peace..."

James couldn't hide his grin as he joined the other Marauders at the dinner table. They watched him throwing dreamy glances over at Lily, who sat a few seats away on the other side of the table with Dari and two other girls. Dari looked over to him and gave him a smile and a thumbs up sign. He turned back to his food. All was not lost yet.

"She said yes..." he remarked casually.

"She said yes? To go to Hogsmeade with you? That's great, mate!" Sirius said and beamed.

James nodded happily.

"So what are we going to do then? Just hang around?" he asked.

Remus rolled his eyes.

"Take her for a long walk! Listen to her for a while and find common grounds. You're not dumb, James, but sometimes you're dense, you know! If you're entirely uninterested in what she's interested in she'll not be impressed. I don't mean that you've got to show interest in every bit, but there must be some subjects you're both getting along. I also don't think it wise to simply adjust just to please her. It's called finding affinities…"

"Thanks for that advice, mate," James said, suddenly glumly.

Remus patted him on the shoulder and said:

"Don't be glum, old fruit, just start talking with her. Don't even mention that you love her, just start talking about school and maybe some of the tests lately that made you happy when you got good grades. All it takes is a place to start. You'll see how things develop from there."

_Harry was amazed at how much he saw of himself in James at that moment. He was more than glad to see his Mum finally coming around to his Dad!_

On the way to Hogsmeade Remus just grinned. He felt Sirius' hand on his thigh and sighed, too, but happily. They would be off looking for rings. Then on Monday they were due for the visit at the Ministry to sign their papers. He didn't feel all that comfortable that Sirius was now officially his guardian, but he shoved it away knowing that the true leader in their relationship was himself. In the end if it had to be that way then Sirius was better than just anyone.

The Hogsmeade weekend dawned with a crispy cold but clear January morning. The students walked down to the village in thick throngs or in couples. Many of the older students used these weekends to go out with their girlfriends or boyfriends. The Marauders, Lily and Sabina, Peter's new girlfriend walked together, but separated soon after reaching Hogsmeade. Sirius took off with Remus to the jeweller's shop. They found it on the main road, a quaint little house all covered with snow and a small window showing off some lovely jewellery. They went inside and were met by the owner of the shop. When they asked to see wedding rings he looked at them slightly reproachful, but he didn't want to lose their business so he said nothing. They looked over the selection and finally decided on a pair of lovely red gold rings containing one single tiny ruby. The rings were immediately fitted to their fingers and they had their names and the date of their mating engraved. Sirius gave the jeweller his Gringotts vault number and after a quick check with the bank they could leave the shop, both wearing their new rings. They held hands as they walked through the village to Honeyduke's, where they bought a selection of sweets to last them until the next Hogsmeade weekend. Sirius added some extra chocolate for Remus to his pile.

Some of their classmates whom they met on the streets and in the shops noticed their new rings. Most commented in a friendly way. Sirius and Remus had not kept their relationship a secret, so the whole school knew about them being together. But of course there were still taunts about it, mostly from Slytherins.

A few metres before the entrance of the Three Broomsticks where they wanted to meet up with their friends they were accosted by some of the Slytherins. Bellatrix Black, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, Sirius's brother Regulus were among them, Snape, Wilkes and Avery were behind them. There were a lot of people on the road, but even when Sirius and Remus were bound into a circle none of the adults or other students intervened. The gang had a bad name at Hogsmeade already, they were known to most of the salesmen and the people usually avoided having anything to do with them. Most of them were also banned from the Three Broomsticks.

"Hey, look who we have here... two little poofs out on a walk. Aren't they just cute and poncy?" Rodolphus Lestrange asked in a sing-sang voice.

"Why, if it isn't my brave little cousin," Bellatrix went on.

"Oh, and just look! They're wearing rings, isn't it sweeeet?" Regulus cooed.

"And? What's it to you?" Sirius asked, wondering when Regulus had decided to turn away from his brother.

Neither he nor Remus showed much respect and when some of the Slytherins pulled out their wands to start hexing them, Sirius and Remus only exchanged a glance and cried, at the same time, without even pulling their own wands.

"Expelliarmus!"

The power of their spell didn't only make the Slytherin's wands fly, but most of the other peoples' around as well. And the people. Many around the two found themselves on the ground while Sirius and Remus just shrugged and left the spot in the direction of the pub.

"What the heck was that?" Avery asked Rodolphus Lestrange.

"No idea. But something's fishy. I'll find out. This kind of power would be of interest for the Dark Lord, that much is sure."

Remus and Sirius had found an empty table in the meantime and Remus went to get the drinks. He noticed the two of the group of Slytherins who were still allowed in the pub coming in. Regulus and Rabastan watched him taking his drinks over to Sirius. Then he got up and went straight to the two fourth years to tell them off:

"As a prefect I'm warning you not to cause any more trouble or I shall have to not only take points from Slytherin but hand out detentions. Is that clear?"

His tone made it clear that he was no push-over. Rabastan still thought another taunt was called for and replied:

"You can't throw me out of here. Besides you're nothing but a weak little homo..."

"I may be gay but that doesn't make me weak, Rabastan. You'd better back down while you can still do it without pain. We only disarmed you out there, but believe me, I could do much worse to you. Now leave or I'll have Madam Rosmerta get you out."

Regulus didn't want to push it any further and pulled his classmate out of the pub. Remus returned to the table and sat down on the bench next to Sirius. They were soon joined there by Peter and Sabina.

"Hey, what went on outside? We've heard lots of talking about two guys who didn't use their wands to disarm about two dozen people around them. Could only have been you two, eh?" Peter asked.

"Bellatrix's gang thought they had a chance getting at us surrounding us out on the street. We just showed them that they were slightly wrong," Remus said.

"Cool! But I bet their curiosity has been stirred now."

"I'm afraid so. But I know that Dumbledore wants them to know, and this was a natural opportunity. I'm sure they'll report it to their homes and from there it will go to Voldemort," Sirius said.

"Why would Dumbledore want them to know?" Sabina asked.

"Can't talk about that here. It's a part of a scheme he has," Remus said.

"That contains you two as part of it? Ouch. Rather you than I! This You-Know-Who guy scares me to death."

"Voldemort, Sabina. I really don't like that new fashion of the Daily Prophet of referring to him as You-Know-Who. It's ridiculous. Voldemort's real name is Tom Riddle, use that if his self-styled one makes you so afraid," Remus said.

Sabina looked at him with admiration.

"Well, if I had the power to disarm two dozen people without so much as lifting my wand I'd not be afraid either," she said.

"We're just as afraid of him as you are, Sabina. But Professor Dumbledore says fear of the name only increases the fear of the thing itself and that's precisely what Voldemort wants. He wants us all in fear so he can go ahead and massacre everyone who doesn't fit into his spectrum of tolerated people," Remus told her.

To everyone's surprise Peter piped up and put an arm around his girlfriend.

"I think, Remus is right, Sabina. We have to remember that this is only a man and not some kind of an Über-person, he can only cook with water just like everyone else."

"Bravo, Wormtail, that's the spirit!" Sirius applauded his friend.

"It's just - they're killing so many people. And so many others have just vanished," Sabina said shyly.

"You're right. And apart from Dumbledore no one really does anything against it. They just stand there not knowing what to do it seems. The Minister had to be CONVINCED by at least four heads of departments to finally get into gear. My Dad has stocked up on Auror training. He also started to offer additional defence training for everyone who is interested in self-defence," Remus said.

James and Lily joined them a few minutes later. They had heard about the incident, too, and wanted to hear all about it. Half the school passed by their table in the course of the afternoon to hear all about that incident on the street. By the time they returned to Hogwarts and went to the Great Hall for dinner it was all over the school and even all the teachers had already heard about it. One of the passers-by who had been caught in the spell had collected his wand and practically ran to the school to talk with Dumbledore. He promptly called them to his office after dinner.

They sat down in front of his desk and Remus apologised:

"I'm sorry, sir. We didn't want to hex them or fight with them, but we would have had to, they were seven and we were in the middle of them. No one seemed to want to interfere, so we decided to disarm them..."

"That is quite alright, my boy. In fact I am convinced it will be reported to Voldemort. Sooner or later he will seek you out. What I want to do is to talk about protection for the two of you for when you are not at Hogwarts. We need to intensify your training. It seems that casting that spell has increased your individual power. We will test certain spells and their strength under these conditions. If the two of you are in harmony you will achieve a great number of things."

Dumbledore took the boys to a room where they usually trained and had them levitate very heavy objects. They managed alone, but when they tried the spell together even the heaviest stone flew to the ceiling. And when they focused their magic with a wand they almost broke the ceiling. So they whispered the spell and still levitated a big block.

"Quite amazing. Try an Incendio spell on this large wooden block in the grate there..."

They pointed their wands and cast the spell. The log burned up immediately. Dumbledore conjured a larger log, and then yet a larger one, and then one that barely fit inside of the fireplace, but all of them were gone within minutes of the two boys casting their spells together.

"I see that we shall have to take this to another part of the castle. There is too much wood in here to go on safely. The more destructive part of your training will be held in the dungeons, but a good bit away from the Slytherin common room, do not worry. There are parts of this castle that no one knows but me and the old headmistresses and headmasters. Now try a Reducto curse on this block of stone!"

Dumbledore conjured a huge block of stone and Sirius and Remus had a go at it, wandless first, which cut the stone in half, then with their wands, first one half and then the other. They reduced the two slabs to dust.

"Amazing. That will be all for today, boys, you have spent a considerable amount of energy tonight. Go and get some rest. By the way - I commend you for not choosing to hex the Slytherin students. It's always better to find a solution like disarming an opponent."

_'Yeah, right,' thought Harry slightly bitter, 'especially when they help each other back up and re-enter the fight with their Killing Curses...' _

_He had to admit that in the situation in Hogsmeade it was certainly the right thing to do, but his experience with Death Eaters was of the kind that it was sometimes better to take them out of the fight permanently._

"Thank you, Professor," the boys chorused, then they left the office to return to their house.

Dumbledore stayed back, looked down on the dust from the stones and repeated several times: "Remarkable. They are truly remarkable."

If Dumbledore had promised to intensify the training he hadn't promised too much. The boys worked with him and Flitwick, then there were two Aurors who overlooked their defensive and even some offensive spell-casting, they learned more in Potions than they liked and McGonagall and Dumbledore both worked them in Transfiguration. They also took some time off to learn some basic healing magic from Madam Pomfrey, who was only too pleased to teach them.

But before all that they had to go to the Ministry. They were allowed to floo from the Headmaster's office directly to the Ministry. They reported to the Werewolf Registry where some of the staff looked down on Sirius for getting involved so intimately with a werewolf, but he remained calm. He knew there would be more of that contempt from many people. He had stamped himself a bit of an outcast, too, when he got mated with his Remus, but as long as they had their friends and their family they didn't feel bad about that. There were a bunch of papers to be signed and that done they were free to return to Hogwarts. As Remus was still one school year away from finishing his education his new married status as well as his condition would not be turned public just yet.

"Did everything pass alright?" Dumbledore asked them upon their return.

"Without a hitch. I'm quite sure they don't even realise that there's one top powerful werewolf walking all over Hogwarts," Sirius grinned.

"Good. Though sooner or later it will come up, but I hope we can get you through Hogwarts before that is the case. Voldemort won't know that you are a werewolf, but that you are powerful, the Werewolf Registry will know you are a werewolf, but not that you are powerful. I think I like the balanced beauty of that."

"I'm not so sure I like it myself. I feel a bit manipulated in all of that," Remus sighed.

"I am trying not to manipulate you, but I will not hold back that I am very interested in having you in my ranks, Remus. But foremost let me assure you that I am especially fond of you. You have grown from a shy little boy to a very self-confident one! We would not have chosen you for prefect if we did not think you were very able to do it."

Remus and Sirius returned to Gryffindor tower and spent the rest of the afternoon behind closed curtains and silencing charms making love. Since starting out they had discovered many things they liked doing. Remus loved it when he could lay on his side, Sirius behind him and Sirius liked it most on his back, Remus taking him from the front. And in the middle were many shades of grey which they all enjoyed. But they usually ended up with Remus' favourite position at the end, just before falling asleep. Remus wiggled his hindquarters a little to get the most comfortable snug position in Sirius' crotch and Sirius pulled him closer to make sure that his cock found a nice tight bed between Remus' legs. Sirius usually pushed it right behind his mate's testicles.

They woke up in the middle of the night. The dormitory was quiet apart from Peter's soft snoring. Sirius kissed Remus and asked:

"Hungry?"

"Quite. Kitchen raid?"

"Yep!"

They opened the curtains, only to find a plate of food for each of them, kept warm by a charm. Both looked fondly over to James, sending a silent thank you for sparing them the long walk down to the kitchen. They gobbled up their food, put the plates back with a thank you note for the house-elves on the bedside table and pulled the curtains close again.

"That was even better, saved us from having to go all the way down..." Remus remarked.

"...let alone coming all the way up again," Sirius added, snuggling closer to his husband.


	7. 06 - One Year Later

Chapter 6 - One Year later

_Harry enjoyed watching the group of teenagers in the next few months. Between their training, the remaining classes and Quidditch Remus and Sirius were so fully booked that the Hogsmeade weekends were the sole proper reprieve. As time was scarce it flew and for Harry it wasn't any different. He had so much to follow and to see and put to memory it would have filled piles of notebooks! He worried a bit about messing up, but Karli intervened and told him all he needed was a Pensieve - conveniently there would be more than one of these in the joint possession of the Potters and Blacks._

_"Karli, normally a child is born with a completely blank brain - won't it do me harm to have a fully formed adult brain in that small head of mine?" Harry wondered._

_"At worst it means you'll have to work on making more space, but I wouldn't worry about that either. The more you put in the more space you make. Normally humans don't use more than a fairly small percentage of their brain capacity. You'll have to see about your IQ and have it measured. It should be much higher than in your first life."_

_"Ah, hadn't thought of that!"_

In the course of the past year, Sirius and Remus had both noticed a few minor changes in their bodies. Sirius' developing chest hair vanished again. The hair on his arms was practically gone. Remus never had much body hair in the first place, being fair-skinned and fair-haired meant that his hair was much softer, too. It was now completely gone except for the pubic hair. And both their nipples had changed form, they were now looking slightly puckered, had become much larger and had a very dark surrounding. They had also greatly gained in sensitivity, a fact they quickly learned to exploit in their love-making.

On the morning of their first anniversary they woke up and felt completely changed. At some point in the night to their anniversary their chests had developed female breasts! It came as a complete shock to them when they noticed that in addition to their breasts they now also sported the other female sexual parts. Neither could find any logical explanation other than the one that the bonding must have caused it. It had not been mentioned in the small book they read but it was the only explanation they could put together logically.

They actually thought it was quite funny to experiment around with these additions to their bodies forgetting the minor thing about the female nature of producing fertile eggs.

_Harry registered the fact and watched them take the long trek to Dumbledore's office under their feet. The two boys had received an extra password to reach their headmaster and they often did make use of it. Harry wished they weren't quite so trusting but there wasn't much he could do about it but watch. He had to trust Fate sitting inside of Dumbledore to know what she did. _

Dumbledore, as could be expected, took the information and sat there, contemplating the new development.

"Both of you changed, you say?" he assured himself of the facts.

"Yes!"

"Well, then that bonding goes beyond anything imaginable it seems. Regard it as an extra gift!"

The boys took it in stride. It was typical for their headmaster anyway, so they went on and simply enjoyed their bodies as they were.

They celebrated their anniversary a few days after the actual event with a dinner for two at Hogsmeade. Both were just as deeply in love with each other as they had been at the start. They both agreed that their feelings for each other had only intensified over the past year. Coming back from their evening out they went straight to their dorm and closed the curtains of Remus' bed for a night of intensive love-making, now including the new 'features'.

_In the meantime, Harry had learned to flee from the spot as soon as he noticed the first signs of the two hopping off to the bed together. It amused him to no ends, but he really, really didn't need to witness their sexual interactions. Besides, he reasoned, they had a right that their privacy wasn't breached, even if he was only a spirit. Unfortunately for Harry and his modesty the relationship between his parents had blossomed to their taking every opportunity they got for some snogging time or even more. Lily had absolutely no compunction to visit James in the boys' dormitory, head girl be damned! And Harry had to get out of that dorm all over the place, because even little Peter took his girlfriend there from time to time. Hormonal teenagers were definitely a bit tiresome to watch! On the other hand it had quickly taught him to consciously move from one area to another in haste, which again amused him greatly._

_Harry was very happy to see them all finding love. He wondered if Peter's relationship would last, but what he saw of Sabina he liked. Harry thought that she would be capable to keep Peter in line! He was convinced that this was one of the focal points of change. With the girl at his side Peter's courage might hold up much stronger than it did when he was all alone. He now had something to lose rather than something to gain. If this partnership held up Harry saw it as another pivotal change in the timeline that would bring about peace sooner rather than later._

_Finally there was another, much more quiet love that blossomed between two of Lily's closest friends. Gryffindor had just won the first match of the season against Slytherin. Dari Sanchez was about to hop off her broom after the game when she was tackled by her friend Hope Foster, who was herself a chaser on the Ravenclaw team. Hope celebrated with the Gryffindors, because everyone beating the Slytherins fair and square deserved to be celebrated, but this time the hug turned into a bit more and the two girls admitted their love for each other. _

Lily, who had followed Dari to the ground, grinned and mouthed to James: "Finally!"

_Harry included the girls into the group of those he watched._

_But as everyone was off either studying, training or snogging he had to find some new interests. One of them came in the shape of Bill Weasley, whom Harry recognised amongst the third years in Gryffindor and his brother Charlie, a proud little first year. Already now the young Bill showed his later qualities: the ability to be studious, curious, chivalrous and brave. Harry found the boy more than just talented, he was the epitome of a Gryffindor, bringing in all the qualities necessary for the house. The adult Bill Harry had known was at the same time a good boy and a cool guy. Harry could easily recognise that he had been like that already in his early years at Hogwarts. He wasn't astonished anymore why all of Bill's younger siblings admired him so much. It pleased him to see that Bill was definitely the heart and soul of his class and great fun._

It was now a year since Remus and Sirius had started their intensive training in many disciplines that went far beyond the Hogwarts education. Times had gone from bad to worse and the Hogwarts staff had become Secret Keepers for many a household of endangered students. Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix members were mostly busy putting systems in place that helped endangered people evacuating their homes in spite of the efforts of the Death Eaters to lock them in their houses. Their means to kill were most often burning the homes of 'undesired' families with the people locked inside of their proper houses. A system with several layers of protection was thus put in place: Filius Flitwick had suggested a widespread use of the Fidelius charm, which led to people vanishing, sometimes right in front of the Death Eaters' eyes. Much to their dismay there were now many people they couldn't find anymore and this did nothing to lift Voldemort's moods. For a while he concentrated his attacks on the Muggles, but now he was making another effort to find those super-powerful young wizards again, of whom he had heard talking more than once. The second layer of defence then constituted of emergency Portkeys, which would work as soon as the house was under the Fidelius. For those who didn't want the Fidelius they made small tunnels out of their houses, which would not be included in any wards the Death Eaters set up. From these underground corridors the people could then flee with their Portkeys.

Remus and Sirius were of course among those who were covered by the Fidelius charm. For the time being their training was a bit less intensive, so they could work more for the preparation for their NEWTS. Both were doing well in their studies. Both were now able to pull considerable magical stunts individually, but even more so when they cast spells together. They knew they were now two of Voldemort's prime targets and that they would have to face him sooner or later.

Dumbledore waited. He had withheld one piece of information from the two young men, one important piece of information. The change in the build of their bodies would have consequences of which he was sure the boys simply wouldn't think. Now, one year after their mating their bodies were ready for the next step, of which Dumbledore had not whispered anything to anyone. He waited. Sooner or later it would happen. Sooner or later they would discover to what degree they were now not only males, but females as well! Sooner or later Poppy would come and inform him of...

_Harry almost sensed what the old man was thinking. He held his breath, well, he would have, would he have breathed, but he instinctively felt what it was that Dumbledore awaited. _

"Albus, may I have a word with you?"

It was shortly before Easter and it was Poppy who called him through the fire.

"Yes, Poppy, of course. Should I come down to your office?"

"That would be most kind."

He got there only minutes later, expecting to hear what he had been waiting for. She looked very puzzled when she told him:

"Remus has not transformed last night. He went almost crazy, thought that something was wrong with him and it distressed him almost more than his transformations. I have thoroughly examined him and found nothing wrong with him at all, apart from that strange change in his physique. Would you kindly explain why this young man, who clearly has been a young man ever since he has been put in my care, has suddenly developped a complete set of female reproductive organs?"

Dumbledore drew a long breath. Remus it was. And it meant he would not transform for a while.

"Well, you know about their mating, don't you? As you have remarked it has given them a complete set of female reproductive organs and what can females do? I believe he will not transform for a while. You should apply a pregnancy test on him, Poppy."

"Dear me! You think that these reproductive organs are fully functioning?"

"Yes, I do. Remus Lupin is a life-bonded male werewolf. As one of the consequences of werewolves who are life-bonded is the change of their bodies to hermaphrodites male partners in the bond develop ovaries, tubes, an uterus and even a vagina. It is expected to happen within a year after their bonding. I would guess that a pregnancy would be possible at any type. I expect it to happen to Sirius as well, they told me they both changed."

Poppy was floored!

"Oh! And you think that a pregnancy suppresses his transformations until the baby is born?"

"Yes. No baby would survive his transformations, not even in the early stages."

"I would think not. Nature is something very strange sometimes and when magic comes into play it can become even more astonishing. I'll conduct that test immediately, he's still there. Sirius is with him."

"They really love each other, do they not?"

"Absolutely. Sirius is there for Remus all the way! Do you want to wait here for the result?"

"I cannot deny that I am very curious, Poppy. I shall wait."

"But I still am very angry with you, Albus, it wouldn't have cost you anything to warn them of the possibility and send them to me for the necessary instructions on contraception!"

Albus sat down, Poppy prepared the test potion and took it over to the young men. Sirius looked up.

"Do you know what happened, Madam Pomfrey? I don't dare hoping that he's cured just like that..."

"No, I don't think he is. Remus, could you please go and put some urine into this beaker? We'll have to make a little test."

Remus looked up, blushed, but took the beaker and vanished to the loo. He came back and Poppy put a small amount into the test fluid, the rest she banished back to the toilet.

"Five minutes and we will know what is going on, boys," she said with a smile.

They were five long minutes. Sirius and Remus waited, spent their time caressing each other and kissing and when the little sound came that ended the time they all looked to the vial containing the test. It had turned from yellow to blue.

"Well, that's it. Remus, brace yourself, I have some really important news for you."

He looked at her very anxiously.

"I'm not going to die in the next month, am I?" he asked.

"No, that you certainly won't. But you did not transform because there's something in your belly who would have died. You are going to have a baby."

"What? But... but I'm a guy! How can I have a baby in there? Okay, so I got all this different stuff about me, but…"

"That's what I thought, but Professor Dumbledore explained to me that all mated male werewolves develop the necessary female body parts within a year after their mating. He said that you probably have these, too, Sirius. If you wish I can show it to you..."

"I know I do, I look just the same as Remy now. You can make that visible?" Sirius asked, fascinated, but that made him realise that he was concerned, too. And that his husband was expecting a baby.

"Yes, I can."

Poppy cast a spell that made Sirius practically see-through. Both he and Remus looked at the sight in awe. Poppy looked at him, too and covered her mouth with her hand.

"Sirius, go and give me a sample of your urine, too, please."

"What? You're not telling me I am pregnant, too!" he grinned.

She just summoned a clean beaker and pointed to the toilet. Sirius vanished and she went back to her office to prepare another test.

"Is he?" Albus asked in a low voice.

"Yes, he is, just fresh though. Sirius probably is, too! How could you not tell them about this, Albus? They could have prevented a pregnancy!"

"And they would have. But I actually did not want that. I will be subject to their wrath, but once their babies will be born they will reach the full potential of their power. And then - woe to Voldemort. We need them to get rid of this creature once they are through school. We will go down over short or long without their power, Poppy. I am not as strong as I used to be. Until then we shall cuddle them - and their babies - and I shall teach them as much as I can. And hopefully they will be able to enjoy a long and happy life as a family after that. I'm quite convinced that after the initial shock they will get to love their children."

_While Harry was happy for Remus - and probably Sirius - to become a parent he was starking mad at Dumbledore. Only when he reminded himself that Fate sat inside of Dumbledore he halted and thought that if she condoned it then it should probably be fine. He was sure that the two young men would love their child in any case. They would be as mad at the headmaster as Harry was, but it made him grin and think that this baby would be like an older sibling for him! The first one of hopefully many, he thought._

Poppy sighed and couldn't help herself, she glared at him.

"Always using people like chess pieces. Shame on you, Albus. I don't think that was a very nice move. But I suppose we have to live with your fait-accompli."

She went out of her office and put a few drops of Sirius' urine into the test. Another five minutes wait. Sirius stroked over Remus' belly tenderly. He kissed his husband and held him close.

"We'll get through this, love. It's not like I expected to ever have a child, let alone two of them, and if I had known we'd be fully functional men AND women we could have done something to prevent this. But we'll live with it, don't you think?"

Remus nodded.

"Don't know if I can get myself to study especially well while suffering from morning sickness..."

"On the other hand, no transformations until the baby is born, love. "

Remus managed a weak smile. A few months of rest before the monthly pain would be back. Then his face darkened.

"Madam Pomfrey, what do you think, will the baby be a werewolf, too?"

"I don't know, Remus, but I don't think so. So far I haven't heard of even one single case that it has been passed down. Werewolves who are already married and have been able to maintain their relationships can not be excluded from reproduction. Their children might be observed in the first few months, but none has ever emerged to be a werewolf."

Sirius watched the yellow fluid. It turned blue.

"Well. Now we know. Luckily you will be in the second trimester when you will have to sit your NEWTS, that will make that bit a lot easier. With your robes it might even be that no one notices it before school will be over for you. I can imagine that this will not exactly be fun for you if word gets out. Or we'll use simple glamour charms."

Both young men shook their heads. Poppy checked them up and said:

"I'll call the local medimidwife from Hogsmeade over in the next days for a better inspection. She'll be able to give you an approximate date for the birth and examine you more thoroughly. I don't see anything amiss right now. I'll send word to you when she'll be here."

"Okay."

"You might want to catch the Headmaster for a few words..." she called after them as they left the hospital wing.

"We will!"

Dumbledore took their wrath with an even temper and finally explained why he provoked this for them. He could feel that they didn't hate their pregnancies, but they of course resented not to have been informed about this bit of development to be able to make it their own choice if and when to have a child. They returned to the dormitory, calling James, Peter, Dari and Lily to come with them. Once they reached their room they sat down and told their friends:

"Anyone of you in the mood to become godparents?"

The four friends stared at them, then at each other.

"Why do you ask that?" James wanted to know.

"Because Dumbledore neglected to tell us about another consequence of our mating. That both of us would become fully functional hermaphrodites. Everything needed is there and because we didn't know about it we are now both pregnant. That is the reason why Remus didn't transform last night," Sirius explained.

While Peter and James looked at their male friends with open mouths, Dari and Lily started to hoot and congratulated the two on their pregnancies.

"Of course I want to be the godmother of one of your children, Sirius!" Dari cried.

"Me too! I'd love to. I take it you're not going to tell anyone else?" Lily followed suit.

"No. You can let Sabina know, Peter, and we won't mind for Hope to know, but nobody else. We will of course tell my parents and siblings. Not yet though..." Remus said.

"Well, you could just scratch by... you may need a bit wider robes though," Lily said.

"Yes, but we'll see how it goes. We'll be almost five months gone by the time we have to sit NEWTS. So far you see nothing at all, we're both quite tall, so maybe it will take a while before you see anything from the outside."

"Half the term. That's not too bad, really. You could have hit it worse. Like giving birth when you should sit NEWTS," Dari remarked.

"I don't even want to think of it. I'm not mad to be pregnant, but I'm still really mad at Dumbledore who **wanted** to let this happen. He says that now we will both reach our full potential and our magical power will increase to the maximum."

"And just because he thinks you will have a go at Voldemort he risks to make you so mad that you possibly might rush to the other side?" James was speechless.

"Well, we wouldn't do that, whatever happens. These people are too despicable. But it does hurt quite a bit to be regarded as a secret weapon."

"We'll all be there with you - the whole way through!" Dari promised passionately.

Remus and Sirius regarded her fondly.

"Thanks, Dari! You're really a great friend!"

"Well, that's what friends are for! You guys deserve to have people supporting you if you're already going to be used as a weapon."

"That's true. Dumbledore really singled you out with all that - and building you up as his most dangerous weapon. I think, Dari is right. I'll back you up fully, too!" Lily confirmed.

"Make that three," James said.

"Four," Peter added, "and probably five, once Sabina hears of it."

"Thanks, guys! We really appreciate your loyalty!" Remus said, tears blinking in his eyes.

_Harry was shocked! That was now definitely something unexpected. What would this change in regards to Voldemort he wondered. But then he felt happiness wash over him - he would grow up with slightly older cousins! Sirius and Remus would actually have a family of their own! Who would care about the Horcruxes, they'd locate and destroy them while Voldemort would still try to survive possessing animals down in Albania!_

The medimidwife showed up the next week, checked them both up and declared the babies were doing just fine and they would be born around the beginning of December. Dumbledore immediately informed the couple that they would receive rooms at Hogwarts where they could go on studying after school and prepare for the birth. They would be perfectly safe here.

"Don't know if my Mum is going to share that opinion if any more such stuff happens," Remus said to Sirius. "She might go into mother lion mode and minimise Dumbledore to half his size when she hears of this."

They decided to write home and ask Richard and Venetia to come and see them at Hogwarts. Nothing like that had ever happened before so they turned up right the next weekend. In the Headmaster's presence the young men explained their conditions to Richard and Venetia. At the end, much to Remus' consternation Richard started to grin and Venetia smiled.

"Wow. So much for not giving us any grandchildren, Remus! So now you're going to give birth almost at the same time...?"

"Mine will probably be first," Sirius said, "seems it's about a week older... we must have caught each other's very first ovulation bang on, because neither of us had a period since our bodies changed."

"Well, that's really cute! But you had better not let it come so far that WE have to become the parents of these two little buttons, just because you're breeding two lethal human weapons, Albus!" Venetia turned to Dumbledore while she said this.

"I do strongly believe that they will enjoy a very nice family life together, Venetia."

"They better! Or I might think about reducing you in size…"

Now Remus grinned. That was more like his mum! Dumbledore shrank a little already when he met her glare.

The next few weeks of school were not quite easy for either of the pregnant young men, because they found themselves plagued with a bit of morning sickness and with raging hormones, but they managed and were even able to study. By the time exam week started they were as prepared as they could be. Their bellies had grown considerably in the meantime in spite of their tall bodies, but only their dorm-mates, Lily, Sabina and Dari had seen them. Their breasts had started to develop even further. Minerva McGonagall covered them with a glamour that hid all these visible changes from view. She felt grandmotherly and watched over her boys, checked that they ate healthy and that they were fine. Their pranks had stopped completely in the past year and since they grew up quickly she respected them as young adults. Sirius and James had hardly spent any time in detention for over a year.

The exams started. There were tests every day, but for Remus and Sirius the practical tests were just a bit of an exercise. They both did some of their required spells wandless and with their wands, so they got some extra points.

And once the NEWTS were over it was only a matter of days until their time at Hogwarts came to an end. They returned home to the Lupins' place and discussed plans for their lives. Sirius was wealthy enough for them to afford their own house, but how long could they go with two children to be born soon without earning money on their own?

"You know that you are both welcome to stay here until you have jobs of your own?" Venetia reminded them.

"Dumbledore says the same of Hogwarts, but we didn't want that. Not before he has some real plans what we should do to help about Voldemort. Obviously that can't be before the babies are born. Your offer is much more welcome, we'll need a home," Sirius said.

"Good. You can help around the house and do those studies you still want to do."

So they spent their summer in the garden and around the house, doing a lot of reading and regularly visited their friends or had them over at their place. Once Rupert and Rowland were both at Hogwarts it was very quiet and they enjoyed their time with Venetia and Richard. They went to see a medimidwife regularly and prepared for the birth.

"Those boobs are huge," Sirius muttered.

"Well, you do want to feed your little one, don't you?" Remus asked tenderly.

"Yes, I guess so... but I think I would not have been able to get around big breasts, just look at all the women in my family. They've all got these big boobs. I don't suppose we can avoid the genetics of our respective families."

Lily and James had both found jobs at the Ministry. Lily worked at the Department of Experimental Charms and James had been chosen as an Auror trainee. Peter had found work at a wizarding shop in Diagon Alley. Sabina still had a year at Hogwarts. Since the Lupins lived in Wales they weren't all too far away from the others who had all moved to London. Sirius was quite glad not to live in the city. He liked to go there but he had grown very accustomed to life in the country. He could always apparate to where he wanted to go anyway.

Sleeping together became a bit of a difficult thing. They now had to sleep back to back, so that their bellies wouldn't get in the way. One day Venetia snuck into their room to take a picture of them sleeping this way.

Finally the waiting found an end. Sirius' baby wanted out. It was the fifth of December when he realised that the slight pain he felt was the beginning of the birth. After a few hours and a fretting Remus who had to be soothed all the time the medimidwife was called in and together with Venetia she helped Sirius giving birth to a healthy baby girl who was named Vega Black-Lupin. Sirius was very exhausted, but so happy he cried when he held his little girl in his arms. She was just bundled up in a blanket and her face was still crunched up and red, but she was a lovely little girl with Remus' brown eyes and Sirius' black hair. He kissed her on the nose and looked up to his husband.

_Harry was extremely impressed. He never knew more than the pure technical side of reproduction, whatever he had snapped up in the course of his young life, but seeing a baby being born had already impressed him when he saw Remus come to the world. So, his first cousin was a little girl. _

"She's beautiful, Remus, don't you think?" the new father whispered.

"Yes, Siri, she is."

"And she's hungry, Sirius, let her suckle..." Venetia said softly from the other side.

She helped her son-in-law who still felt quite awkward about it all. But that didn't faze the mother of seven who had all the routine needed to help him. After a few minutes Vega consumed her first meal and was then allowed to go on her papa's arms.

"Hello, love! Welcome! You're one lovely little girl and it's an amazing feeling to finally meet you. You'll meet your little sibling in a few days, sweetheart."

Remus held the baby tightly and then gave her back to Sirius who had been cleaned up in the meantime and was ready to go to sleep and rest up.

They had barely seven days time to get used to their daughter when it was Remus' time. It took long and he had a harder time of it than Sirius, but at the end of thirty hours Remus gave birth to a healthy boy. Polaris was quite a strong child who looked like Sirius. He was thoroughly checked, but there was no evidence that he had inherited Remus' werewolf.

"The next full moon will be in eight days, we can't but wait and see what happens. I don't think we'll need more than a solid ward around his cot, even if he does transform, he's still so small," Richard said.

Remus thought it would be horrible if his little boy would have to go through what he had to endure every month. He knew that in only a week he'd go through that horrible transformation again.

The full moon night came up and Sirius went down into the cellar with Remus. The babies would be fed with the bottle that night. Richard and Venetia anxiously watched the warded crib in which their grandson lay. The moon came up, they could hear Remus down in the cellar, but the little boy did not transform. He just slept peacefully and never noticed when Richard took down the ward and left the room with the representative from the Werewolf Registry.

"Well, that takes a heavy load off my shoulders," Richard admitted, when he had closed the door.

"He doesn't show the least bit of a sign that he inherited the werewolf. I do suggest that you should watch him closely for a couple of full moons though."

"We will certainly do that. It's bad enough that Remus has to go through this every month. It would have been tragic if he'd passed it on and he would hate himself for it. He'll be more than relieved. Since Polaris' birth he's been very anxious."

"The way I have learned to know your son he must have been. He is a very special werewolf. I have never met anyone quite like him."

"He is a special person. He'll always have a special place in our hearts, Masterson."

"He's your son after all. Other parents have just chucked their children out when they were turned. I tend to deeply respect all those who stick to their children. Or spouses. These werewolves are much less of a menace and none of them are known to pass the curse on."

"Thank you. And thanks for your visit and witnessing. We're very happy about these two children."

"You're welcome. Good night, Lupin. Goodbye, Mrs Lupin!" he called to Venetia and left through the front door from where he disapparated.

The first thing Remus asked when he saw his mother in the morning was whether Polaris was okay.

"Yes, love, he hasn't transformed. He's perfectly fine. You can relax, sweetheart."

"I'm so glad..."

Remus was out of it for most of the day. They woke him to feed Polaris, but he did it only half awake. That was enough for the baby though and after the next night they were both getting better.

Sirius fared quite well with Vega. His little daughter was as strong as her brother and suckled eagerly every time he offered her the nipple. It still hurt him a bit, but after the two weeks since her birth things started to get regular and he felt better.

Once they had a certain rhythm Sirius and Remus exchanged the baby they nursed every other time. They needed to get close to both their children and with them being only a week apart they could swap without any problems.

_Harry sighed. So, this was where it all started. He would just take a seat and watch all the things that would happen. Of course he'd sensed differences to his original timeline already in that the Order was much more present around the houses of Muggle-borns and halfbloods, as well as those of the purebloods who were against Voldemort and thus just as endangered. It had become a very fractured society, but the threads were held together by a specially formed Ministry department which had its seat at Hogwarts. These Ministry workers never even left their new home and wouldn't do so until the danger was over. Their sole purpose was to keep all the members of the society informed about developments outside of their Fidelius charm hiding places. _

_At the same time the Death Eaters hardly found any potential victims anymore. They also ran afoul with the Goblins at Gringotts. These had no compunctions to simply relieve the attacking Death Eaters of their heads and seize their vaults. That happened to two prominent Death Eaters who also had seats on the Wizengamot. Others in that body tried to wage a war against the Goblins, but they didn't have a majority (yet), so it was turned down massively. At that point Dumbledore brought in a bill through Bartemius Crouch, which allowed absentee voting in the Wizengamot. Dumbledore expected the next campaign of the Death Eaters would be eliminating the Light faction within the chamber to get a better chance on voting for their topics. The last session of the Wizengamot with full membership in place voted for the bill and thus the next meeting was with a greatly reduced number of voters, but with the necessary documentation to vote as proxy holders for other members. The Death Eaters now found that they were outsmarted at every corner, because the members turned up to some meetings but not to others. When there were bills brought forth by the Death Eater representatives there often wasn't a quorum of voters, because the proxy voters would not vote for the members they represented and without them present the quorum wasn't reached, which would have invalidated any vote. The only one who never seemed to be fazed about anything was Dumbledore. He was the sturdy head of the Wizengamot and not even Voldemort himself seemed to have been able to attack the old Chief Warlock._

Harry's own parents were also covered with a Fidelius. But they still went out to work every day, only at the end of their work they immediately left the premises and vanished back under their protection. Their Secret Keeper was, as he was it for so many others, Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore held up easily. He only left Hogwarts for the Wizengamot sessions and his meetings with the Minister, now also covered within the Ministry. In fact the whole Ministry had now been declared a zone in danger and had been put under war lockdown for the first time in its existence. Lily and her department had developed the necessary spells partly from the properties of the Fidelius charm, partly by their own developments and partly by other charms. Every Ministry employee could enter and exit, but no one else. It was not possible to enter a 'guest' for the time being and the public could not enter at all. All communication between Ministry personnel and private persons passed via Hogwarts. Albus was happy to provide the room for secure floo traffic and the Ministry and Hogwarts house elves were excellent at popping where they needed to go to deliver mail and goods. Many privately owned house elves had also been put in the service of the war efforts.

_This all amazed Harry. The chaos that had been described to him of the first war wasn't to be recognised here. Most of the people were trying their best to lead fairly normal lives and do their work. The Death Eaters didn't raid much in Diagon Alley, because they, too, needed to buy most of their supplies there. The Aurors were often able to capture Death Eaters under their disguises and they did good work under the strict and gruff, but caring lead of Head Auror Alastor Moody. Harry would have constantly shaken his head if he had one. Was this the well nigh senseless magical world he had come to know? No, this was a strong effort to get rid of the problem. It showed effects, after the first year of this strict enforcement of lockdowns and protections there were many Death Eaters who had found a sad end. Voldemort definitely had to begin to feel the lack of possible new members of his club._

Of course the babies' godparents, James and Lily for Polaris, Peter and Sabina for Vega, came to see them ever so often. By Christmas both babies had smiled at their fathers for the first time. After the new year started, Sirius and Remus returned to Hogwarts for a while to get a better grip at their latest power surge. It had set in a few weeks after the babies were born. They arrived at the school with the children and their considerable paraphernalia. Minerva showed them to a suite of rooms looking out on the south of the castle. They could see Hagrid's cabin and the lake. The suite was on the fourth floor near the hospital wing. In fact, Poppy Pomfrey was their neighbour.

Most of the teachers oohed and aahed over the children. Venetia had made a lot of baby clothes for them, sewn and knitted. Sirius and Remus took them with them wherever they went in the castle. They spent a good amount of time in the library, where they had taken residence in a spot near a window at the back of the library. They read a lot of things they had never treated in class.

After a week Sirius had his first encounter with his brother since he was back at Hogwarts. He had Vega on his breast and read at the same time when Regulus spotted him.

"I don't believe this!" Regulus cried, "Look at that, Stan, will you!"

Rabastan Lestrange, just a couple of steps behind Regulus, stared open-mouthed at Sirius. They went closer immediately.

"Sirius? What's that supposed to mean?" Regulus demanded.

Sirius looked up and frowned. He had always had a fairly good relationship with his younger brother, but it seemed that he had finally succumbed to their mother's and the junior Death Eaters' views. It was a sad discovery, because Sirius never thought his brother had it in him to be vile. It was just time to shift Vega to the other breast, so he gently pushed a small finger into her mouth to make her let go. She mumbled something and he switched her to the other side and encouraged her tenderly to continue suckling.

"There you go, love... - Hello, Regulus. You didn't expect me to send you a card with her birth announcement, now did you? You can tell Mum that she's become the grandmother of a girl and a boy. This is Vega."

"What? You're not going to tell me that YOU gave birth to twins?" Regulus shouted.

"Could you possibly lower your voice? If not for her then for the sake of this being a library. I gave birth to her, Remus had our son, Polaris."

Regulus sputtered something about blood traitors and abominations, but he'd done it too loud, because Madam Pince turned up on the scene and asked Sirius:

"Is there a problem, Mr. Black?"

"Nothing I couldn't handle, Madam Pince. Only my brother here has been a bit out of sorts, maybe he should go and see the nurse..."

Madam Pince only needed to nod away from the spot and the two Slytherin sixth years moved away. Sirius snickered in a low voice after they had vanished. He looked down on Vega.

"That was a good one, love. Wonder what my dear old Mum will have to say to that! She must have been outraged when she learned that she couldn't disinherit me. Now most of her precious Black stuff will still be left to me and not her precious Regulus. Wonder if he already knows that? I bet he's already a Death Eater or at least on the way there."

The baby suckled on, hearing her father's soft voice but not understanding what he said. He was glad for that and he hoped fervently that she would never have to meet his mother. He took the time to reminisce about his feelings during the pregnancy. Once he had started to feel comfortable with it he had learned to listen deep inside of himself. Feel his baby. He had often talked to the unborn baby in his belly. Had just sat in a window seat and caressed her through his belly.

_Harry watched and felt happiness welling up in him. Having seen more than one horrid day of Baby Sirius' life he couldn't but smile at the difference. Seeing Sirius and Remus with their babies he couldn't wait for his own life to start again now! He knew that he wouldn't be able to be that close to the two young men anymore, but he was sure he would see them often!_

"You are my little wonder, Vega. You and Polaris, too, of course. You don't really know yet, but I love you more than my life..."

Sirius hadn't noticed that Remus was standing next to the nearest bookshelf listening in to him and smiling. He carried Polaris on his arm. The baby was already asleep, having finished his meal. Remus also carried a thick baby blanket, which he spread on the rug next to the armchair in which he wanted to sit. Sirius noticed him.

"Hey! Have you been eavesdropping?"

"Just a bit. I love you! What are you reading?"

"I was reading up on the Unforgivables. I'm doing some research for Lily. She's doing her bit at the Ministry and I'm going through everything that I can find here. She's getting a dispense from the Ministry to cast the curse on inanimate things. There's quite a lot to read."

"To possibly develop counter curses?"

"Yeah, mostly. Though it's nowhere said that we'll succeed. We'd like to find something that can put a stopper on Avada Kedavra. Like putting a spell on people that would make them 'immune' against it. Most people wouldn't stand a chance to cast a counter curse, time's just too short, but if we can use our ideas on a slab of granite then we can see if we can get something to immunize people. - And what are you after?"

"Dark creatures for one. And then the latest news is that there are rumours that the Death Eaters are carrying some kind of a mark branded in their forearm. All the ones that were captured had the same thing. We believe it's some means of communication. The Aurors are now trying to get out of them what the purpose of this tattoo is."

Vega was through suckling. Sirius marked the book on the table next to him to tend to her fully. She looked at him and smiled. He pulled her up to his shoulder and waited for the little belch. Then he wiped the milk off her little mouth and put her down to sleep on the blanket next to her brother.

"Here you go, love! Have a nice nap!" he whispered and waited until the little girl fell asleep.

Then he sat up in the armchair again and picked up his book. Soon both young men were immersed in the books and took extensive notes.

That's how Dumbledore found them a short while later. He conjured another armchair and some tea for them.

"Hello, Professor!" Remus said.

"A very good afternoon to you, too, Remus! And Sirius. I see you have made yourselves quite comfortable here..."

"We'll have a couple of thousand books to work through, we thought it was appropriate," Sirius grinned.

"Absolutely. I trust that Irma has nothing against it?"

"No, in fact she's been the greatest of support, I think she's quite taken with the research. She trusts us not to hurt her books. Thanks to her we've already uncovered a few rare beauties."

Dumbledore looked down on the sleeping children.

"And your children are well, too?"

"At least they don't seem to mind the not so bright room..." Remus replied, looking down on them.

"I was actually coming down for something else, but I have an idea. It might be better if you worked a bit more in secret, so how about I show you one of the rooms close to here that you could have for yourselves? You would be completely undisturbed there."

"That would be great. I've just been hit on by Regulus and the little Lestrange. Nasty piece of work that one. If we'd have a room for ourselves we could set up a crib for the children, that would be better than having them sleep on the blanket," Sirius said.

"I would expect that your brother was a bit surprised? Or have you informed your family about the newest addition to the Black family tree?"

"Don't even want to think about it! I've certainly been blasted off like my mother burned off Andromeda's name. So I suppose the children will not show up there."

"You would know that better than I. Anyway, if one of you wants to come along I'll show you the rooms I have in mind."

Remus got up and nodded. He followed Dumbledore to one of the side rooms of the library. Dumbledore studied the shelves for a moment and then pointed to a book.

_Harry made haste to follow them, most curious to discover an area of Hogwarts he'd obviously never seen before. It was clear that the same went for Remus who looked as curious as Harry felt. _

"This is Nicolas Flamel's first work on the Philosopher's Stone. He noted down a lot of things about it, never actually talks about the methods in the book, so from reading it no one could make one, which is why the book is still here and out in the open. Quite inconspicuous, I do not think many students lose themselves in this wing of the library anyway. - Actually, Remus, if you do want to hide something important, you might consider of putting it out in the open among other things of maybe a similar nature. I grant you that only people who are desperate to find it and really look for it, will do so. Anyway, there is a secret entrance behind this book. The password is 'Ollivander's wands'. I suggest to keep the door hidden you'd best take a few books out of the shelf. That will make it harder to deduct the one you're actually using. Then stick the book in different places. Madam Pince is aware of the fact that the book travels on the shelf."

_Harry took good note of that one. He definitely hoped to find out for himself if these rooms could be useful one day. In his time the Room of Requirement became a bit too well known after they held their sessions there, so this might be a great place to withdraw from time to time. A certain brown-eyed, bushy-haired girl came to his mind…_

Remus took the book, whispered the password and watched as the shelf swung forward, revealing a nice door. Behind the door was a corridor. As soon as Albus had passed the door, the magical candles in the hallway flickered to light and they walked through the corridor and turned to the right into an adjacent corridor. They passed several doors on the way and Albus stopped at the last door just before the end of the corridor and opened it.

"This is a fairly old part of the castle. These chambers are hardly used these days. It's a wing that saw most of its use in the 18th century, and not for students, but for teachers and guests. There are several individual, but interconnected rooms on this side of the corridor. Since the teachers' wing has been added and modernised elsewhere this has gone to disuse. They might still be a bit dusty, but I will send some house-elves to clean them up. Here you are..."

Remus looked around. He had entered into a very nice large sitting room, furnished with antique sofas and armchairs, which were grouped around a coffee table of considerable size. There was a larger round table in a corner with several chairs. The ground was covered with beautiful carpets. The walls opposite the windows were covered with old bookcases behind glass doors. There was a fireplace in the middle of the wall between two of the four windows. Nothing was really dusty, so Remus thought that the house-elves must have cared for the wing in spite of its disuse. On each of the short walls was a large door, leading to further rooms. Remus nodded.

_Harry was impressed by the beauty of this rococo style room. The colours were predominantly white and gold, the curtains all a deep red velvet with gold tresses. He thought that there must be conservation charms of some sort on these rooms, because things looked almost perfect. _

"That's brilliant. It's bright with the light from the outside and spacious enough to do research comfortably. Just a bit of polish on the furniture needed," Remus said.

"Splendid. You are both doing enormously important work right now. You should do it in comfort. Lily will join you here for a good part of the week soon. She is still held up being trained at the Department of Experimental Charms, but in a month or so she should be ready and bring along quite a lot of obscure things to work through. While you two are still being trained it will occupy you nicely. She'll have the rooms to this side while you can take over the rooms on this side of this living room."

When they returned to the corridor, Dumbledore pointed to the end of it:

"Instead of turning left at the next corridor you can follow this one and it will lead you to the main hallway to the library. The door is behind a painting. If you open it from this side you can look at it and remember it. The password is the same. You can cover this door with your own password. Also from this side you can see through it to avoid other passers-by, then this place will remain a secret location."

Remus nodded, then they both returned to the library. They sat down again. Remus poured another cup of tea, which had been kept warm and warmed himself up.

"To show you an extra room was not the real reason I was coming here. I would like to invite the two of you into the Order of the Phoenix."

Sirius and Remus looked at him.

"We know what that is, but could you explain a little more in detail what you do?" Sirius asked.

"It's a not very large group of people who work tirelessly against the Death Eaters. Alastor and his Aurors are really doing a fine job, but they are too out in the open. There are a few older Aurors who are already a member of this Order, as well as some professionals from all sorts of branches. Many people are not aware about how much they can actually contribute, but they usually quickly learn in the Order."

"How do we join?" Remus asked.

"You just join upon invitation. That's what I'm giving you now. All that's asked of you is to regularly show up at the meetings."

"Where are the meetings held?" Sirius wanted to know.

The gleam in Sirius' eyes told Dumbledore that Sirius was quite keen on fighting Voldemort.

"Mostly here at Hogwarts. We are still building up a headquarter in another unused wing, which can be reached directly from the outside if you know how. You will be called for the meetings as we do not hold them regularly. It is easier to remain a secret society if you do not meet all too regularly. People cannot watch you so easily."

"Yes, we will both join the Order," Sirius said, throwing a glance at his husband who nodded.

"Very well. Some members of your family have already joined, Remus, we count on all of your older siblings as well as your mother and father. It is important for us to have a good base within the Ministry. We are their eyes and ears. I would like to thank you both for not losing your trust in me. I admit that I have not always been too forthcoming with information. But I am still glad that I have never told you a lie either."

"We've long since forgiven you for that. We love the children more than our lives," Remus said, looking at his children with so much love in his eyes.

Dumbledore recognised the sentiment in his former student.

"That is wonderful, Remus. I am happy that the two of you are happy with your family."

"I never knew what it meant to have a loving family, Professor. You know my parents. The atmosphere at Grimmauld Place would not allow for any form of tenderness even though I tried to be close to Regulus. I do intend to give my children all the love I never got. Because I find it's easy to love. Uncle Alphard, James, his parents and then Remus taught me that first and then Richard and Venetia gave freely what my parents denied me," Sirius said.

"Good. That is excellent. I do think you deserve it, Sirius. Now I shall send the house-elves to make that room perfect for you. There are a number of bedrooms as well behind that large room. If you should prefer to move in fully you are welcome, too, by the way. Actually I think, it would be a good idea, because you'd be out of the main school this way and we could place Lily on the other side of the corridor. Better for the secrecy of your research..."

"Thank you, Professor. I think, we will. It's quite a lovely place," Remus confirmed.

Dumbledore left them and they turned back to their work.

_As Harry watched them going about their work he thought how much Hermione would love to join them in that reading frenzy. She'd be doing a great job, too, he thought. _

They continued to read until their children woke from their naps and wanted to be fed. Remus took care of Vega, Sirius picked Polaris up. They made themselves comfortable and let the children suckle.

"Being both equipped like that has its advantages - we can feed them at once," Remus said and chuckled.

"Yes, that's a lucky bit. We'd have had a lot less sleep otherwise."

After the feeding Remus and Sirius conjured a large trolley to place the books and their parchments and took everything including the children to the new room. Remus pulled out a couple of books, silently showing Sirius the one he needed, then they whispered the password to the shelf. They passed through the door, closed it and Remus showed Sirius the way to the rooms Dumbledore had given them. He covered the door with another password and opened it. They pushed the trolley through.

The house-elves were still busy with the bedrooms. Even though there wasn't a lot of dust to be removed, everything still needed to be cleaned and made fully habitable for a young family. While Sirius and Remus were off to their current chambers to pick up their things the house-elves gave their rooms a lovely squashy Gryffindor tower feel. They returned and found a series of perfect rooms.

It started with the large sitting room with the huge fireplace. A lovely fire crackled on the grate now, giving the room a cosy warm feeling. The stone walls were covered with thick tapestries to keep the warmth in and the hardwood floor was mostly covered with thick oriental rugs. But in the space of an hour or two it had been given a fresh polish, as had all the wooden furniture in the room.

Sirius held Polaris on his arm and walked on to see the other rooms. The door led to a smaller room, which had already been decorated as a nursery. Two cribs waited for their new inhabitants. They looked ancient, but really beautiful. They were both fitted with light blue bedclothes. Two dressers with a changing table on top and two rocking chairs with footstools completed the furniture. There was another door to the right, which led to a large bathroom. The tub was big enough for the whole family, white enamel with gold fittings. The same colours were used for the sinks and the toilet. The bathroom cabinets were of brass and glass, filled with the usual fluffy Hogwarts towels. The whole room was fitted with white porcelaine tiles. There was a second door to the bathroom from what they expected to be their bedroom. Then they got to the next room, which was to be their bedroom. It was an oblong large room, which had windows on two sides, thus showing that it was in the corner of this part of the castle. It didn't surprise them that it contained a huge four poster fitted with red velvet hangings. There was a chaise-longue pushed to one wall, a sofa and two armchairs with a small coffee table stood close to the fireplace and here, too, the walls were covered in thick tapestries. There was a high mirror between the door through which they had just entered and the door to the bathroom. At the end of the room another door to the right led through a boudoir to a further room. It was furnished as another bedroom. The boudoir was filled with large cupboards and shelves for clothes. There was a dressing table and a few chairs around a tiny round tea table.

"This is amazing! You guys have done a sensational job!" Sirius said to the house-elves, who took the compliments with beaming faces.

"We is very happy to have you back, sirs! You have always been the kindest sirs with us house-elves! We is happy to do everything for you!" one of them said.

As Remus and Sirius knew all of these house-elves by their names and never treated them badly, thus their visits down in the kitchens were always welcome.

"Thank you, Kliby, you have always been most helpful! Now that's all for the moment, but would you mind to bring us dinner at six thirty?" Remus asked.

"Yes sir, I is doing this!" one of the house-elves said and they all vanished with a crack.

Until then Remus and Sirius took turns in getting their things from the other rooms to this flat. When they finally sat down to eat their dinner from the finest porcelain, Sirius said:

"Well, that's something! Much better than what we had up to now. I could make a home of this here..."

Remus grinned. He liked the place, too. It had a very antique feeling and he guessed that the furniture must have been crafted around the mid eighteenth century. There were a few beautiful sideboards and some lovely cabinets in the sitting room. The room also contained a writing desk and secretary. And of course they had to look through all the books in the floor to ceiling bookcases, too. Curious they also went to have a look at the rooms on the other side of the living room. They passed a bathroom first, fitted the same as their own, followed by three more interconnected bedrooms. All had doors to the corridor as well, which meant they could all be used for either several persons or individually.

"I suppose we'll be here for a while. The really good thing is that it is safe for the children. I'm so worried about my nieces. Voldemort is out there and he's looking for us. He can guess that we're still in training, so he wants us gone sooner rather than later. And that means my family is in as much danger as we are."

Sirius frowned. He didn't often admit it, but he was terrified, too.

"Some Gryffindors we are. Terrified of a stupid Dark Lord," he muttered.

"I think it is good to fear him – we won't ever underestimate him, love," said Remus. "And truly, I know that Roxanne and the girls are well covered with the necessary protections, but it's still harsh."

A rap on one of the windows drew their attention to an owl who wanted in. Remus opened the window and the owl dropped a letter on the table and flew to join Sirius' Silas on his perch.

"It's James' Libby. I bet that she's quite taken with Silas, she's always staying much longer than she's supposed to..." Sirius said with a grin.

Remus opened the letter and read it. He grinned and passed it to Sirius who read it, too.

"She's waiting for a reply."

"He's popped the question!" Sirius exclaimed. "Now that's great, Remus! They're going to get married, how nice. Well done, mate."

_Harry popped away, having seen enough here for a while. He found himself in the small flat, which James and Lily inhabited together for the time being. They were both beginners at the Ministry and didn't earn very much money yet. James didn't want to simply sit on his dad's pocket, so the two rented the small two-bedroom apartment in Kentish Town in London. It was in a converted Victorian terrace at the start of the road. It was a furnished flat without much comfort and they had only moved in a few weeks before. Harry had not spent too much time around his parents; they were being a bit too intimate again for his liking. He guessed that one day he'd share that love for the love with them when he himself would be old enough but for the moment it wasn't what he was keen to see. _

But of course that was James' and Lily's new private life; they were both now young professionals who worked hard already. They enjoyed their work training at the Ministry and both were happy that they seemed to have chosen the right professions for their talents and interests. James already had to accompany more seasoned Aurors on the job, which meant that he already worked the odd night shift. He was currently taught how to hold himself back from rushing into dangerous situations!

Lily put together the list of people she wanted to invite to her engagement party. It couldn't be too long, because many of her old school friends were now living under concealments to which she wasn't privy, but their most important friends were of course going to be there. She was at least privy to the living arrangements of Dari and Hope, Peter and Sabina and a few others.

James' letter invited Remus and Sirius to their engagement party on the next Saturday at the Potter family residence. Sirius picked up his quill and quickly jotted down a 'Yes!' as an answer and called Libby over.

"Come on, sweetie, you're going to take that nice short letter back to your daddy!" he said and fixed it on her leg.

Remus gave her an owl treat, opened the window again and the owl took off.

"We'll have to take the children along or someone has to feed them bottles that evening..." Remus said.

"I'm just thinking about that. We could take them to your parents' place and apparate to check on them."

"We could do that. Mum and Dad should be willing to help..."

Sirius wrote a quick note to Richard and Venetia, asking them to watch over the children on that Saturday. He sent it off with Silas.

"Done. So. We have some free time, love, what are we going to do with it?"

"How about some chess?"

"I'm in."

They spent the time between the next feedings of their children playing chess and went to bed early. They knew they would have to get up at least once during the night.

On Saturday they walked to the gates of Hogwarts, their children held close to them in slings, and apparated to the Lupins' home, where they gave the two little ones to their grandparents. Venetia and Richard loved to have them and give Remus and Sirius a free evening.

"I heard you've been working very hard," Richard remarked.

"We've already gone through quite a pile of books," Remus confirmed.

"And the training of your powerful magic?"

"Is going well, too. We have moved into a very nice antique suite of rooms, close to the library," Sirius said.

"You should come visit us there once. It's really beautiful!" Remus added.

"Yes, why not? Dinner sometime next week?"

"That's a deal! Just tell us which day. We'll see to it that Rupert and Rowland can join us for the meal."

"So you're not eating at the Great Hall?"

"No, rarely."

"I suppose you met your brother, Sirius?"

"Yes, once or twice. And I suppose that Voldemort is aware of our children now."

"We have already cast the "Sanguis familia" spell on this house, Sirius, he will not be able to harm them in here. It covers all our children and children's children. Dumbledore has given us the spell and it's been cast successfully just after you gave birth to them. Because we knew we couldn't keep you inside forever. You need to go out and have some fun, you're so young!"

"We will, mum, but first we need to get rid of Voldemort," Remus said with a grim expression. "And we're fairly confident we won't fail!"

Then they left for the engagement party for James and Lily, which was held at James' parents' house. There were dozens of people mingling around, mostly friends from Hogwarts, relatives of James' and some of Lily's relatives as well.

"Hey, there's my best man and his best man!" James screamed when he spotted their arrival.

"Hey there! Methinks, it's the groom!"

They all exchanged greetings and then Sirius and Remus were introduced to the people they didn't know. There were colleagues of James' and Lily's from the Ministry, some of his relatives and her relatives. Lily introduced her parents:

"These are my parents, Mum, Dad, these are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. They're a married couple and they have the two cutest little babies which I suppose are waiting back at Remus' parents' home. I'm actually the godmother of one of them."

"Right in one. We'll have to apparate over once or twice to check on them," Sirius said, beaming.

Mr. Evans looked slightly confused. He could see that both, Sirius and Remus were built rather like women, so he asked Lily:

"Tell me, how does that work? They sound like they have male names, but they look rather like... err... females..."

Lily grinned and explained:

"That's magic, dad. They are actually both. Due to certain circumstances, which I cannot explain to you right now because that explanation would take an hour or so, they have developed all the female parts necessary for reproduction, though they didn't fully realise at the time, that's why they were trapped into being pregnant so early. The children were born within a week from each other last December."

"Wow... so they are actually two gay men?" Mr. Evans was really interested.

"Bingo!"

"Crazy! You people are totally crazy! I love it!"

Lily grinned. She had not been aware that her sister Petunia and her fiancé Vernon Dursley had been behind them, but their snort of disgust made their presence known.

"Oh, and these are my sister Petunia and Vernon Dursley, her fiancé. They're due for the altar in May. These are Sirius and Remus Black-Lupin. You may remember that they were both James' and Peter's best friends at Hogwarts."

Petunia gave them both a glare and the coldest and shortest handshake Sirius and Remus could remember.

"Nice to meet you, Petunia," Remus said with his usual kind way.

"You lot are not exactly what I want to have around me..." Petunia hissed.

"Now why would you say something so ugly?" Sirius piped up cheerfully, "We're such nice and fun people."

"Two men becoming pregnant sounds like a violation of nature," she replied.

"Oh, that disturbs you. Well, we wouldn't have chosen it quite yet, but someone held back the fact that we **could**, in fact, fall pregnant, so we didn't do anything about it. But even after only barely two months we wouldn't want to miss our little ones. We have a boy and a girl. You'll probably see for yourself over short or long, that having a baby is the most special thing you can experience and we're very happy that as men we actually can!" Sirius told her.

But neither he nor Remus lingered. They had taken an immediate dislike of Vernon Dursley, which pleased Lily very much, because she hated the man with a passion. (_Harry snorted and thought that it was really easy to see the Dursleys for what they were once one started to talk to them. No brains between them at all, but arrogance by the bucket load.)_ When they were together with Peter, James and Dari later on she told them:

"I'm dead sure he's made her even worse than she was before! She always hated that I'm a witch, but she was mostly jealous because people didn't notice her much when I was around. Since she's been with him and he knew she's gone from bad to worse. Don't know what she sees in him!"

"Forget it, Lily! You look so happy now!" Remus said.

"I am! We are! You know the feeling... of course we won't be able to life-bond like you, I wish we could though. I'll come to Hogwarts in two weeks by the way. Will spend most of my time with you guys, which is just fine, because James will be out in the field. We'll keep the flat in London as a pied-à-terre."

They enjoyed an evening of talking and laughing together like they did in their school days. Remus turned to Peter:

"I'm to send all the best and all her love from Sabina! I saw her in the library today. She's toiling for the NEWTS. Can't wait to get out of there, because she misses you!"

"That's only a fraction of how I miss her! But it's less than half a year now. She intends to join her Dad in his apothecary at Diagon Alley."

"Good for you, that won't be far away."

"No, it won't. And she won't have to look for a job."

Peter looked down on the floor for a moment and then turned back to the others, announcing:

"And then I'm going to ask her to marry me..."

"Woohoo, Go Peter!" James hooted and all of their friends followed suit.

"You're doing great, man! Give us lots of nice little Peters after that, will you?" Sirius said and smiled.

"You can talk, now that you know all about it," Peter teased back.

Sirius' smile became softer.

"You don't know how great the feeling is to have a tiny human in your arms! Just you wait, Peter, once you'll know you will also know how much there is you want to defend! Sod Voldemort and his idiots! Really! I'd gladly give my life for Vega and Polaris."

"Yes, well, that's you and your super-human powers... you can easily say that," Peter replied sombrely.

"No, Peter, the motivation in this case is love," Remus said, "Have you never noticed that your love for Sabina has unleashed more power in you? Remember when you did much better in your NEWTS than in your OWLS? You were driven by the positive feelings inside of you, you are happy with Sabina, you know we're your friends, that helped you get stronger. Her love gave you self-confidence we could never build up in you. As much as Voldemort goes on about how only power counts, he hasn't got the slightest idea of the power of love! This bond has given it to us. It will give at least some of it to you! Actually I think it already has done."

Peter looked puzzled for a moment, but then James started to grin and exclaimed: "Yes, that's true! Once you were together with Sabina our work in boosting your self-confidence seemed like a piece of cake!"

And Peter had to admit that this was true. He looked a bit sad though.

"Still... I'm no good. It's through others that it was done."

"Again you're putting yourself down too much, Peter. We could only unleash what was already in you, we couldn't add anything to you. When you got better at school that was your own potential. You were just a late bloomer," Remus again countered with a smile.

"Thanks, guys! And in that case thanks for putting up with me for so long. You really did help me stand on my own feet..." Peter mumbled.

"What do you mean? You had some of the most brilliant ideas for pranks ever, Pete!" Sirius yelled, "there's no reason to thank us for something that was no big deal when you participated in it!"

And they all laughed and wished Peter luck popping the question to Sabina.

Sirius apparated to Wales to see how the little ones did. Both slept quite soundly, but he decided to pick them up one by one and feed them both. Since they were both asleep he woke up Polaris softly and took him down to the living room. He sat down and conjured a cushion to be comfortable nursing his son. Polaris, once awake, gladly took the offered food. Venetia, watching her son-in-law, chuckled and said:

"You're gaining routine at this, don't you?"

He smiled. "Yes, we do. But it's a great feeling..."

"I know that very well, Sirius."

"Of course. Having had seven of them."

"Will you want more?"

"I don't know. Not just now, that's for sure, but one day... I hope we can get Voldemort out of the picture before that. But yes, I could see us have a few more. At the moment we'll try to avoid it though. Of course we were mad at Dumbledore for holding back that information just because he wants us even more powerful, but to have them… he knew we'd forgive him because we love our babies so much."

Sirius caressed the baby as it suckled. Polaris pedalled lightly with his legs and arms, but he gripped Sirius' index finger with his tiny hands. He smiled down at the nursing child with a look so tender it almost brought tears to Venetia's eyes. She wondered if Richard had felt the same kind of emotions back when he watched her nursing. Sirius seemed wrapped up in it just the way she used to be.

"You know it's quite amazing to share such typical female things with one's son and son-in-law. You seem to be happy."

"Right now I could burst with happiness, it's just pouring out. It's so easy to love the little buttons. And Remus! – But sometimes it frightens me a bit, too. It's given us both even more magical power, Venetia! Sometimes that's scary. I mean, both of us would never misuse that power, but what if it becomes known again and Voldemort starts creating werewolves left and right to do what we just did?"

"He doesn't know that Remus is a werewolf, does he?" Venetia asked, fear in her eyes.

"As far as we know he doesn't. It'd be horrible..."

"Well, he'd need to have a werewolf attacking a young child and that child would have to mate with someone the way you did. Always provided that child would survive in the first place."

"He'd not worry about that. He'd just abduct any child. Hell, he'd even MAKE children just for that purpose. Or would put his Death Eaters behind it. I'm quite sure some of his female followers would even offer to carry such a child. And if it didn't take years until the child would be old enough he'd do it tomorrow..."

"On the other hand, don't forget that love is part of the bond. Without it the bond would probably never happen, so you can't just put two individuals together and tell them to get bonded the way you and Remus are..."

"And according to Dumbledore Voldemort has no concept of love at all... neither have most of the Death Eaters. That's true! Voldemort would never believe that something that involves love could be that powerful."

Polaris let go of the nipple. Sirius gently helped him catch it again. The baby suckled a few sips more, then let go.

"Is that it, love? No more? Well, then let's get you back to bed and take on your sister..."

Sirius closed the bra he wore and pulled up his robe, then he took Polaris back to his crib and picked up and brought Vega, as soon as Polaris was asleep again.

"I love how you love to sleep, child," he whispered to his son.

He took Vega along and as she started suckling Venetia asked:

"Does it make any difference for you whether you nurse Vega or Polaris?"

"None at all. Just a little mouth sucking milk actually. Yep, that's you, little lady. You and your brother... we're doing this at times, one of us feeding both of them, especially at night. Though in the morning it feels like our breasts are exploding when they haven't suckled during the night. It's happened last week that Remus had slept the night through and then let Vega suckle. She's a bit more eager than Polaris. Grabbed the nipple and the milk spurted out at her! I had to clean her face before she could give it another try! Both of us laughing our behinds off, naturally."

Venetia laughed.

"You don't stop producing milk that quickly. But it's good that there's enough for them in both of you."

"But Remus didn't like the feeling much! It can become painful. Also we've decided that we switch them. I'm usually nursing Vega two times, then Polaris two times. We do that so that they get used to both breasts, not only one side."

Once Vega had been fed everything in Sirius' breast he let her suckle what was left on the side Polaris had used a while before. She still found a few sips and let go of the nipple, yawning.

"No wonder you're tired, little one. You've been suckling like a milking machine. Now you're going back to sleep? That's my girl..."

Vega slept again by the time he reached the children's room and laid her back down in her crib. He said goodbye to Venetia and returned to the party at the Potters. There were now only his friends left, the rest of the party had vanished, including Dorea and Charlus.

"Everything okay?" Remus asked.

"Yep. Both fed and sleeping again."

"You're nursing them both?" Lily asked, astonished.

"Sure. There's enough in here, believe me. Remus will suffer a bit, because he'll almost burst with milk..." Sirius replied with a smirk.

"And that hurts pretty badly. But I'll have them both next time around."

"I'm still wondering, how you could even give birth to them," Hope Foster, Dari's new girlfriend asked.

Remus blushed. Sirius blushed, too, though much less.

"Do you really want to know? - I guess, you're a former Ravenclaw after all."

Hope grinned.

"Just like every other woman, Hope – it's all there in place, right behind the male parts."

Hope and Dari grinned even wider.

"Our two gay boys are turning hetero! Isn't that just too funny?" they hooted.

Peter and James shook with laughter. Remus blushed even more, but Sirius said:

"I can tell you that it adds a whole new dimension to the sex we had before. We can now enjoy it any which way we please!"

The others laughed even more. But they came back down and after a while started discussing other things. Lily told them she'd be coming to Hogwarts soon and that she was looking forward to it. Remus and Sirius invited their friends for a dinner at their new flat. It became very late, but finally Remus and Sirius returned to Wales and got a few short hours of sleep.

Remus woke early. His breasts hurt him and milk oozed out of them. He grabbed a towel and put it underneath himself to catch the drops. Sirius woke up next to him, stretched a bit and touched Remus' nipples. Remus hissed.

"Pain?" Sirius asked, worried.

"No... I wouldn't call it pain... went right down to where it feels best is what I'd call it."

"Really?"

Sirius turned to Remus and started to lick the nipples, then suck them into his mouth and when he started to suckle Remus almost screamed.

"Oh! Wow, that feels good..."

Sirius took a small amount of the milk. It tasted sweet, he thought.

"No wonder the kids like that stuff so much. Give it a try yourself, love!" he said and turned on his back.

"What! You want me to suckle on your tits?"

"Yeah! Get out some of the milk. Tastes great! You're the sweet tooth among us anyway! You should like it."

Remus leaned in and gave it a try. Sirius responded quite the same way as he had done.

"You're right, this feels great! Come on, just a bit more..."

Remus caught some of the milk and liked it. He licked Sirius' nipples and suckled on them until they were dark red. Sirius sighed and moaned softly.

Vega and Polaris fetched them from their well-being. They cried for breakfast and got it as quick as Remus and Sirius were able to get up. Both found a breast and the milk in it and looked content immediately.

Once they were up they got dressed and went downstairs to raid the kitchen for some breakfast of their own. Both of them emptied a large glass of water before they started eating. Having to produce all that milk made them thirsty. Then they ate a well sized breakfast. Venetia came down and watched them tuck in.

"You have a healthy appetite..."

"Seems that producing milk for the babies is pretty demanding... we're constantly hungry and still have lost all the weight from the pregnancy already," Sirius explained.

"Yes, I know the feeling. Are you going back to Hogwarts today?"

"Yes. We'd like to go on with our work..."

They left right after breakfast, apparated their babies to the gates of Hogwarts and rode their brooms up to the castle.

_Deep in his own mind Harry watched them happily. He mused that he had by now filled up with so much in terms of positive feelings not even having to return to the Dursleys's care- and loveless home would be able to ruin that. He felt excited, because his parents' marriage and his own conception drew nearer. He was open to some change and ready for activity now and looked forward to it._

Remus and Sirius attended their first meeting of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts only a few days after James and Lily's engagement party. They found a motley crew of quite special people in the room where the Order met and noticed that James, Lily, Peter, Dari and Hope were among the newcomers, too. They were introduced to the older members and took part in the discussions of tasks already on the go or planned. People who had assigned missions reported on them, ideas were collected to help them on if they were stuck somewhere, the material they brought was analysed and new tasks were handed out.

_None of the elder Weasleys were present as Harry noticed. It occurred to him though that most of the tasks were in connection to protective spell crafting and he wondered if that had been a main focus the first time around, too._

"_It started out that way, but it stopped soon and by the end they were about as efficient as you saw them in your fifth, sixth and seventh year, Harry," said Karli in his head._

_It startled Harry. He'd not heard Karli often over the years, but sometimes the DP came through with some sound information like this one._

"_But this time they seem to be successful in their endeavours."_

"_They are. Because Fate feeds Dumbledore some sense."_

_Harry laughed._

"_That'd be a good reason. He's been the same type I've known him, but I couldn't sense any other motives than helpful ones."_

"_That's because there aren't. Fate certainly has a very strong hold of him. He wouldn't even have the first idea that he's actually 'possessed' – in a peaceful way, of course. I like the justice in the manipulator being manipulated very much."_

"_What do you think? Would he be able to get this out of me once we meet? He does have a tendency to use Legilimency on everyone. At the very least he scans surface thoughts…"_

"_He wouldn't. I don't expect him to see anything special in you, because you won't be 'the boy-who-lived', much rather you'll be 'just Harry'. Which is what Hermione sees in you, dear boy."_

_Harry laughed softly. He began to understand the many splendored approaches to affection, love, understanding and compassion much better now that he'd seen it in so many facets. He was actually quite impatient to meet Hermione again as soon as he could._

"_Patience is a virtue, young friend," said Karli and vanished from Harry's conscious._

_Harry sighed. He knew, but it was getting harder. And in the meantime he would have close friends in Vega and Polaris, he just knew that already. They'd be the 'big ones' for a while and then would become close playmates. Would he get any siblings, he wondered? He wanted siblings. He wanted younger sisters and brothers, so he could look out for them and be their beloved big brother, just like Bill Weasley was for his siblings._

During the meeting Dumbledore talked with Peter:

"Your unique ability to turn into a rat could be invaluable to us, Peter. Does anyone know that you can do this outside of your friends and the few adults who know about it?"

"Not to my knowledge. Not even my parents know."

"Good. If you are willing and ready we can take you to places where we know the Death Eaters to congregate and you can listen in on them. The perfect inconspicuous spy... sometimes tiny is a great advantage, that's why some life forms have chosen to evolve in that direction."

Peter's eyes gleamed. He had done that a number of times when he spied for the Marauders; he'd been around Hogwarts like no other student before him had been able to do. And finally he was unique in something and that uniqueness would be of value for an important cause. At first he had been ashamed at his tiny Animagus form, but now he would prove himself without the assistance of his friends.

"I am, sir," he said.

James, Remus and Sirius all beamed at him. Sirius piped up:

"We're so proud of you, Peter, you'll be great at this and you'll help us a lot!"

* * *

Peter's first chance to spy came soon. One of the older Order members took him to a clearing in a forest where a small circle of Death Eaters were to congregate around their Lord. Instantly the little rat had found a spot to hide and scurried out of sight. He watched as they all arrived, but no one paid him any mind. He would stay there until everyone left and then find his way back to the Order.

Voldemort looked his Death Eaters over, with a deep frown on his ugly flat face.

"What do you mean you couldn't get to the house, Lucius? Wards can be brought down! Now they're back in that blasted castle where we really cannot harm them. And what's more I heard they have reproduced!" he hissed.

"I don't know how to get close to them, my Lord. I have tried everything. Unless we can plant a spy among them we see no way of getting close to them. They seem to have grown antennas to feel us."

"That is no excuse! I must get my hands on these two men! There is something about them that makes them powerful and I must know what it is... they must be eliminated and I must know what they did so that I, too can get that extra power!"

"If you'd allow me to propose something, my Lord..." Rodolphus Lestrange said.

"What, Rodolphus?"

"A spy among them wouldn't be such a bad idea. It should be fairly easy to scare Peter Pettigrew into spying on them and giving us the information we need..."

Voldemort looked pleased.

"Ah yes! The weakest link, so to speak. But who should approach him?" he asked.

"I think Augustus Rookwood has connections to the Pettigrews."

"An excellent idea. And very inconspicuous, too. I shall contact Augustus. We shall see how much we can get out of him and should he be useless we can still eliminate him. I commend you, young Rodolphus."

Peter was hidden underneath a pile of leaves from the last fall. His first time out as a spy and he had to hear that he was to be recruited as a spy for Voldemort. He shuddered at the mere thought of such a horror. After the Death Eaters vanished, he scuttled away from the scene and met up with the other order members only minutes later at the meeting point.

"Did you find anything out?" Alastor Moody asked.

"Oh yes, you could say I did! What am I going to do? They want to recruit me to spy on all of my friends. Mainly to find out why Remus and Sirius are so powerful!"

"Oh dear! Let's take you back to Albus and see what he thinks..."

Dumbledore offered them some tea and after Peter had drunk the first few sips he looked up and said:

"I'm supposed to be recruited as a spy for them! But I don't want to do that, sir! What can I do?"

Dumbledore thought for a moment, then he asked:

"Did Voldemort mention who was to approach you?"

Peter thought for a moment. Then he nodded.

"Yes! Someone called Augustus Rookwood. He seems to be some acquaintance of my parents. I personally don't know him."

"Augustus Rookwood? Are you sure?" Alastor asked.

"Yes. Yes, I'm sure that this was the name. This seems to be a surprise for you?"

Dumbledore and Moody exchanged glances and nodded. Then Dumbledore said:

"Well, I do not know about you, Alastor, but the only Augustus Rookwood I know is an Unspeakable and would have never been suspected to be a Death Eater..."

"I think you'll likely be contacted in the very next days, Pettigrew. We have several options now. Capturing Rookwood immediately would mean that Voldemort gets suspicious that someone in his own ranks is a spy. He'll know that only the people around him tonight would know about the plan... what do you think, Albus, should we thwart it?" Moody growled.

"I think Voldemort would still approach Peter - through someone else. But you are right, if something like this was leaking AND if we could have a trial where the reason to snatch Rookwood was that he was trying to recruit a spy FOR the Death Eaters it would mean trouble for those in Voldemort's inner circle. And that would at least be very entertaining to see for the rest of us. It would also compromise the intention of using Peter thus they would most probably stop the course of action."

"Crouch will not easily allow us to arrest an Unspeakable..." Alastor said.

"I think he will consent. I am quite convinced that Augustus must have the Mark on his wrist if Voldemort can casually make use of his services, which is quite a clear sign for one of them. Also you might get Richard Lupin's assistance; Crouch cannot work against his superior."

"Let's hope for the best. Barty will jump to the ceiling at first, that much is clear."

_Harry was deeply impressed – firstly by Peter's courage. Even if he had the perfect disguise it still took masses of courage to sit himself right in the middle of the Death Eaters. And then hearing about himself in the discussion must have been a hellish experience. Harry didn't doubt the Sorting Hat's decision of placing Peter in Gryffindor anymore as he had done so often in the past. He was looking forward to see what would happen now._

Two days later Augustus Rookwood was interrogated in a holding cell at the Ministry, after the Mark had been found on his arm. He played quite the blasé nobleman, but as soon as he was taken to court a few weeks later and Veritaserum came to play he spilled his beans quite nicely.

Veritaserum had only been developed very recently in one of the Ministry's lesser known departments and the effect had stunned everyone. Someone who obviously tried to tell a lie was compelled to speak the truth. Every single test person had shown the same typical signs when under the influence of the truth potion. They spoke in a monotonous tone and they spoke the truth. People had been asked to tell a very slight lie. Something that was very close to the truth and as soon as they had the truth potion they told their stories slightly different.

And now for the first time they had brought this new potion to the light in court. The Ministry kept the strictest control over the potion's recipe. It was guarded day and night and only the most trusted Aurors were guarding it. Rookwood's main order from Voldemort for the time being had actually been to get his fingers on the recipe or at least on a sample of the potion, very subtly of course, to pass it on to Voldemort's potions masters to find out its contents. Ironically he was now the first Death Eater to actually taste it in court. In spite of his abilities he had not been able to get even close to it.

The only thing he didn't tell was of course who ratted him out. Because he didn't know. Voldemort seethed in his hide-out. He raged, punished his Death Eaters, but he couldn't find the leak. Three of the most distrusted Death Eaters were actually killed by the number of Cruciatus curses the Dark Lord had used on them. Not that he cared. Rookwood had been Voldemort's only source in the Department of Mysteries and he had to be very subtle lest Croaker would have been suspicious.

_Harry watched how Rookwood's arrest shook many in the Ministry awake. After that trial Crouch and Moody started to comb through department for department at the Ministry using the new truth serum. They found a fair number of marked Death Eaters who were sentenced through express trials straight on to Azkaban. It wasn't difficult to have them spill the beans on their uses of Unforgivables. The Wizengamot also voted on a bill brought in by Arthur Weasley, which put wearing the Dark Mark and belonging to the Death Eaters under the criminal code with a punishment of no less than twenty years in Azkaban. Not a single Azkaban inmate had ever lived there beyond twenty years, no one expected any of them to survive their sentence. Harry thought that was an excellent idea – the Death Eaters certainly deserved the punishment for all the anguish they sowed._

_He had the opportunity to see the panic in many of the Wizengamot members. There were a good number of them who were actually marked and they had, of course voted against the bill, but this time the full proxy votes in favour of the bill were about three times the number of those against it. Dumbledore soon passed the voting record to Crouch who subsequently sent out Aurors to the respective Wizengamot members._

_Harry grinned inwardly. Since these Death Eaters in the Wizengamot presented themselves as worthy members of the society they felt themselves rather safe, and only three of them took it as a sign of the change in the war. So far they had gone from strength to strength, the Death Eaters terrorising the land at their pleasure chasing at least a third of the population into hiding, but now the Ministry had finally had the initiative to actively fight the people who plagued them all, because slowly they weren't just faceless monsters anymore. They had names and could be traced._

_The three Death Eaters who understood the message left their homes before the Ministry Aurors could knock on their door. They did have to run though and thus couldn't bother much beyond taking whatever cash they had with them and flee to South America. As they also had to fear their former associates now they did have to hide themselves very well. One of them didn't even take his family and left children behind at Hogwarts._

"Eight weeks old... she's getting cuter every day, love," Remus said one morning, watching his daughter suckle on her Daddy's breast.

Sirius leaned in and kissed his mate on the cheek. Remus turned and kissed Sirius fully on the lips.

"Can't wait to have you back inside of me, love! But today I'll have three books to go through..."

"Well, that matches the three or four I'm looking forward to," Sirius countered with a grin.

"And there's our regular training, not to forget..."

Sirius grinned more, because he really enjoyed that training. They were regularly stretching their magical abilities. They were made to duel with each other and with very strong Aurors for hours on end to train not only their powers but also their physical condition.

Lily arrived at Hogwarts and took residence in a similar apartment as Sirius and Remus on the other side of the corridor. She worked alongside of the boys and even attended some of their training sessions.


	8. 08 - Brief Reprieves from the War

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews!

This chapter contains some lemons – they'll be between markings like this:

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**Chapter 7 – Brief Reprieves from War**

James and Lily got married on the second Saturday in August. They had chosen the date to be as far away from the full moon as they could find for Remus to really feel well on the date. Sirius was the best man, a duty he fulfilled with great enthusiasm. That's what he called it, Remus rather tended to call it exaggerated exuberance. But Sirius had fun planning a few funny schemes together with Dari, the maid of honour, and he was exhilarated that the wedding was going to be a wizarding wedding.

Security had to be tight. The young people around James Potter had all become a very dangerous sign for all Death Eaters as they were able to thwart many of the Death Eaters' schemes in their earliest stages. In the past four months Remus had done a lot of travelling to apply his new knowledge about very specialised and personalised wards onto endangered people's houses. These people could then pick up their lives again much better than under the simpler hiding charms. He had warded off Andromeda and Ted Tonks' house as well as the houses of some very prominent witches and wizards. So far none of his wards had been breached. Dumbledore was quite pleased seeing his special pupil make some name and a bit of money for himself. Remus was happy to be able to earn some money of his own and help protect people. It had given his self-confidence an enormous boost.

Sirius had been a bit more domestic watching the children for the most part, though both men continued to nurse their children. While he had always been the one who couldn't sit still he was now the one who didn't really mind being glued to the library and the home with the children.

But of course he brought the old Padfoot back out for James and Lily's wedding! To be able to celebrate with no fear Remus had warded off a country inn somewhere in Essex and all the guests were brought in by Portkey. They didn't know where the Portkey took them, only Remus and Sirius knew. They personally made all the Portkeys which were the name tags for all the guests. The items were pre-set on two o'clock, Saturday, seventh of August and took them to all the guests. The number of guests had to be limited to forty, so there were only the closest relatives and friends. James had his parents, Lily had her parents. Her sister had declined an invitation as soon as Lily said the wedding would be magical. Dumbledore officiated, Sirius was best man and Dari was maid of honour, together with their partners that made for the first eleven participants. Then there were Peter and Sabina, Professor McGonagall, all the members of the last Gryffindor Quidditch team apart from those who were there anyway and the closest colleagues from work.

Because they had to fear attacks it was a small wedding party, but the intimacy of it made for a very fun party. All the people who wanted to could stay overnight, the nicest rooms had been reserved for the newlyweds. The Potters and the Evanses had paid a fairly high price to rent the whole inn for the weekend, so that the problems would be controllable. And through that they were able to enjoy a wonderful afternoon and evening. James and Lily radiated and looked very happy. Remus and Sirius enjoyed their time, even though Sirius had a few things to look after. They had left Vega and Polaris back at the Lupins, who were happy to look after them.

After the official part and Dumbledore bonding James and Lily there was time for socialising before the big dinner was served at five thirty in the afternoon. For two hours they enjoyed the excellent food. Sirius and Dari had organised a few little games to entertain them all during the meal and to get some good laughs. Peter and Sabina had prepared a little show in which they played a few scenes about marriage clichés. Everyone enjoyed that a great deal, as it was extremely funny. But Dari got the biggest laugh - she went behind the scenes and came back wearing the most awful robes with lots of little things attached. Her hat put old Mrs Longbottom's to shame! She came back in, Sirius got the room's attention and then she started bawling in front of James. Everyone screamed of laughter when she acted out his old lover, chucked out for his new bride and gave him back all their 'souvenirs' which she plucked from her robes. They ranged from an old pair of boxers over the squashed tube of toothpaste to the last remaining condom and she had fabricated a little story to each of the items.

They had just dried off their tears when the dessert was being served. Dari went back to get out of the dreadful clothes. When she sat down again Lily grabbed and embraced her.

"That was brilliant, Dari! No one could have acted that out as well as you did! Thanks so much for embarrassing James to the bone!"

James actually still looked rather red. Dari sat next to him and gave him a little shove. He grinned a bit sheepishly and said:

"You know, some of that might actually hit a bit close to home. I had two or three girlfriends while I was actually in love with Lily and I'm sure that's about how I treated them..."

"Forget it, James. You're with the one you really love now and that's all that counts."

After dinner the dance started and everyone got up to the floor to enjoy some music and a lot of dancing. Sirius could finally relax, because now his duties were more or less over and he could just enjoy himself with Remus. They were both staying over at the inn as well and were looking forward for a night of undisturbed rest.

"...and hopefully some good sex, love! We're not getting any as often as I'd like..." Sirius whispered into his husband's ear.

"I'm longing for you, Padfoot! Don't know when it's been that we had a whole night free. But it doesn't look that bad, I mean, Polaris is already sleeping through very nicely. Vega is fighting with her teeth, so that makes her a bit crankier, I can understand that..."

Sirius smiled. So much of their lives now turned around their children and every conversation started somewhere else still landed with the little ones at some point.

"Do you feel robbed of something, because we've had them so early?" he asked.

"Well, yes, a bit… if I'm completely honest. We could go out more and enjoy ourselves, but I'd do it with a very bad feeling. So I do feel a bit cheated out of that young adult time, but we have them, so it's just that. I love them so much and I feel their trust and love, so that's more than a reward for the things we do for them... besides having experienced that was amazing."

"I agree with you. They're also going to be great fun and I can only say, woe to Minerva McGonagall when these two come to Hogwarts as students!"

"Obviously they're going to be brought up to become the most insufferable pranksters," Remus said.

"That's fate, Moony! How can they NOT be with two fathers like us?" Sirius was offended.

Remus just laughed. He pulled Sirius into a kiss that lasted so long, that Sirius wanted to get out of the room, into theirs and into the bed.

"Can't, love - you're the best man..." Remus reminded him.

Some time after midnight the party started to wind down and some of the guests, especially the older ones, left the inn to apparate home. While there had been anti-apparition wards set up to apparate in, they could all leave without any problems. Mr. and Mrs Evans had received a two way Portkey, so they could just use their name tags to get back home. Remus activated the Portkey for them.

The younger generation of course held out until way after two in the morning. Sirius and Remus asked to leave a lot before that and were granted the wish, because they would have to go back and pick their children up again. So the two men bid goodbye to all who were there and went up to the room they had chosen. It was small, but still big enough to hold a double bed, a dresser and two armchairs next to a fireplace. They went straight to bed. They were so hot for each other they could hardly wait until they had torn their robes off. But somehow they managed and then they fell into the bed naked and greedy to have some good sex.

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Their still somewhat untypical male bodies made for some funny love-making. Both of them enjoyed it immensely to suck on each others' breasts, as these nipples were much more sensitive than what they had been used to before. They had quite well formed breasts, Sirius' were a bit more prominent than Remus'. The whole being male and female at the same time brought forth some perks – and some dangers as well. Not only could they get pregnant from each other, but there was a certain danger that they could actually catch some sperm of their own! They were aware that only strictest birth control would keep that from happening.

Remus cupped them with his hand as he moved on top of Sirius, rubbing their erections together and enjoying the growing heat. Sirius tilted his head back on the pillow, closed his eyes and just felt. Remus' caresses on his breasts sent little jolts straight down into his cock, which he had found amazing every time they had made love in the past few months. Remus kissed him again, letting his tongue penetrate past those lips he so loved and felt welcomed and greeted by Sirius' tongue. Remus slung his arms around his husband's neck and held on tightly while they kissed. Sirius' arms snaked around him as well and they rolled around on the bed. They returned to Remus pinning Sirius down on the mattress, but moving a bit away, so he could get to Sirius' opening, which he slowly prepared.

Once both of them felt like making love again after the birth of their babies Sirius and Remus had cast a contraceptive spell onto each other. According to Poppy Pomfrey this spell held until it would be removed with a specific counter spell. She assured them that it would not react to any casting of 'Finite Incantatem'. Nothing had happened so far and they were now quite relaxed.

Sirius' hands wandered down along Remus' body, caressed him and finally made a grab for the cock, which was heavy and hot, just waiting to breach that ring of muscles and give him these wonderful feelings again. Sirius loved to be fucked. He loved to be top as well, but feeling Remus inside of him made him really happy. He needed to be 'needed'. And Remus did need him right now; he could hardly wait to plunge in. Though he penetrated carefully until Sirius was warmed up and he would be gliding easily. Slowly Remus began to move, in and out, back in with long, slow strokes, then back out, inside again, breathing deeper and panting after a short while. Sirius pulled him in, moaned loudly and egged him on to go faster.

Remus stroked over Sirius' sweaty shoulder. He bent down to kiss him on the neck, soon leaving a love bite and then he moved up to the jaw and kissed all the way back to that wonderful sensual mouth he loved so much.

"Sirius... Sirius, love... Sirius..." he repeated over and over.

Sirius never got enough of hearing his husband call his name. Sometimes he also needed that, the assurance of his lover needing this, needing him. Sometimes he was still afraid that all would break to shards in front of him and he would be unable to do anything to prevent it from happening.

But not in this moment. Not now, when he felt that wonderful cock thrusting deep inside of him, hitting his prostate and causing him to yowl and scream Remus' name. Remus folded his hand around Sirius' cock and rubbed it hard. They came almost at the same time. First, Sirius let go with a growl and a scream, then Remus followed him over the edge and let go as well. He kept thrusting until the very last drop of semen had been embedded deep inside of his lover.

They flopped back down on the bed, next to each other. Sirius had only the strength left to wrap his arms around Remus and to pull him close, pressing a little kiss on Remus' mouth. Remus smiled at him and brushed the damp locks out of his face.

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"I love you, Padfoot," he said simply.

"I love you, too, Moony," Sirius replied.

It had become their standard phrase after sex. Reminding each other that their sex really meant making love to them. Only then could they fall asleep and really sleep together. It was like a bedtime ritual for the children.

Because they had been in bed relatively early they were up quite early, too. Months of having to get up early because at least one of their babies called them for food had already conditioned them to become early risers. The good thing was that they had the cosy breakfast room for themselves. The sun streamed in and warmed them nicely. They had a great big breakfast in front of them. They talked about the next few days, what they had planned.

"I'll be going over the last few books about Dark Curses. There are about ten or twelve left that I haven't read yet. I actually wish I could get my hand on the library at Grimmauld Place, that would give us some real insight at Dark Curses and potions!" Sirius said.

"I'll be up at Hogwarts, too, for the most part. Then I have an order to ward about six more houses. According to Peter's intelligence Voldemort is beside himself because he can't get to these people. His own fault if he surrounds himself with mostly idiots. They may all be pure-blooded, but they're dumb nevertheless. Or because…"

"Yes, it was quite entertaining hearing his tirades. It was ingenious of you to think of a recording spell! Now we get so much of what he talks about first hand. And he still hasn't found the 'leak'! That's the most precious bit."

"I would expect, that Lucius starts to wonder why he's got himself involved with this, if all he really gains is being punished with Cruciatus every other time he gets summoned," Remus grinned.

"You know what? I have an idea – maybe we ought to pass some of the sermons he holds to the Daily Prophet! Just imagine Just imagine the conniptions he gets when he learns that his tirades are posted verbatim!"

"We have to be absolutely sure that he won't find out who passes the location and dates to us…" Remus said, a bit more cautiously.

"Darn. You're right. Would be a good idea, but is impracticable… grrr…"

One by one the other friends arrived in the breakfast room. The sun had already gone over the house by the time the last ones arrived. They all said their goodbyes and Remus obliviated the proprietors of the inn, so they wouldn't remember the strange things that had been going on over the weekend.

Remus met Sirius at his parents' place where he was just picking up Vega for her afternoon meal. He followed suit with Polaris and both made themselves comfortable on the sofa in the living room to let their children suckle. At nine months they started to chew on bread rinds and their diet was supplemented with some cooked and mashed vegetables as addition to their milk. But for some reason neither Sirius nor Remus were ready to let go of the nursing just yet. It felt much too good for them still. No one tried to talk them out of it, so they just kept on as long as the children liked to take the milk.

Both babies were growing fast. They sat up and crawled a bit already and if one of their fathers helped them they pulled themselves up on their feet. While Sirius was reading he usually had them in a rather big playpen right next to his armchair. A house-elf was never far to entertain them when Sirius needed to concentrate on his texts.

Looking back over the year he had just passed, or most of it anyway, he thought that he couldn't believe how many books he had read. He presumed that not many people had gone through the Hogwarts library as systematically as he had. But he and Lily had worked out a few very good defences and had come up with some amazing spells, of which Remus had used a part for his wards.

Returning to Hogwarts after the babies were fed they could lay them into their cribs for another nap which would last until dinner time. With nothing else to do Remus pulled Sirius into their bed for some more love-making. He fucked Sirius again, and did it three times in a row. Sirius teased him:

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"Feeling alpha today, are we?"

But in truth he couldn't get enough of his wolf. As soon as Remus had shown him his tongue, Sirius asked, doggy eyes in place:

"Again?"

"You're wearing me out!" Remus complained, but complied, grinning.

"What's all that werewolf stamina good for if not to please my arse?" Sirius teased.

Remus crawled over Sirius, tickled his stomach and watched amusedly how Sirius jumped up and winced. Remus laughed, followed his husband and pressed him back down on the bed. He nipped and kissed the flesh just below the navel, which made Sirius squirm some more.

"Remus!" he screeched.

Remus hummed a bit while he went on teasing Sirius' flesh. Sirius' hands dug into Remus' hair, steering him even further down. Within minutes he was just a squirming, squealing mass of flesh in Remus' hand. Who enjoyed it greatly. He loved to dominate Sirius, who was like a lump of soft, warm wax in his hands.

"Stop it and fuck me already, love!" Sirius was able to say.

"Had enough, did you?" Remus asked.

"You know exactly, how much I can take! I'll never have enough of you, Moony," Sirius whined.

Remus looked at him, grinned and finally got ready to plunge inside of him again. Sirius responded with a low moan, that seemingly didn't stop until Remus was already very close to his orgasm, when it rose to a steady scream. That's how Remus loved Sirius most. Defenceless against all that pleasure that washed through his body. Not able to do anything else anymore but scream. Both of them reached their climax after a few minutes more of this and slumped down on the bed in a heap of sweaty limbs, unable to move for a while.

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"Thank you, love! That was incredibly good," Sirius said after a while and lifted his arm to push a few strands of Remus' hair out of his face.

Through the one-way silencing charm Remus heard Polaris cry.

"Can you go and see what he needs? I'm out of it!" he whispered.

"Yes, love, I can - once we manage to get apart here..."

Sirius needed a moment to sort out which limbs belonged to his own body and sat up. He didn't bother with clothes, just got into his slippers and went over to look after the baby. Polaris was quite upset over something. He had woken up and daddy wasn't there as fast as he usually was, that scared him! Sirius gently turned him on the side and stroked soothingly over the back.

"Hey love! No reason to cry here, I'm right next door and so is Papa! You okay again? There, there, everything's okay."

Polaris quieted down, but as soon as Sirius stood up and pulled his hand away, the baby was crying again. Sirius stayed next to him and waited patiently, gave him the pacifier and was rewarded for his patience as a few minutes later his little son was back to sleep.

"That's my sweet one," Sirius whispered and left the nursery.

When he returned to the bed he found Remus fast asleep. He smiled and climbed in next to his mate. He turned to Remus, pulled up the duvets and covered them both. A wink with his hand closed all the curtains. He slung his arms around the smaller man, pulled him close and whispered:

"Sleep well, my love! You don't even have an idea how much I love you!"

The next few months were spent between research at the Hogwarts library, missions for the Order and smaller skirmishes with Death Eaters. When Sirius and Remus were doing some shopping with Lily in Hogsmeade near the end of September they were accosted by a group of seventeen Death Eaters at once. It was the first time any of them met Sirius and Remus together. They cried out their satisfaction of finally having stopped these two young men! Three of them immediately raised their wands to cast the deadly Avada Kedavra, but a high pitched female voice screamed at them:

"Stop! Stop! You can't kill them just yet! The Dark Lord wants them alive!"

The three Marauders immediately knew to whom that voice belonged. They exchanged a glance, took each other by the hand and formed a small back to back triangle to face their enemies. Then they cast Expelliarmus all at once. Eight of the Death Eaters, including Bellatrix were knocked against walls and unconscious. The remaining nine started throwing curses, but the three in the middle had set up shields quite solidly. Lily was constantly repeating the shield charm to maintain it, while Sirius and Remus sent a couple of solid stunners and other curses back at their attackers. All the while they slowly turned around sideways to cover the area around. The whole 'battle' took five minutes and left sixteen Death Eaters in the custody of the Ministry.

Someone had called the Aurors, who found not much to do left but bind the unconscious people and take them back to the Ministry holding cells. The Hogsmeade people were still standing around and all of them applauded the young people who had defended themselves so successfully.

Sirius bowed to them and grinned.

"Thank you very much! See, they can be sent packing! We're going to catch that snake yet, you'll see!" he promised.

Then he looked around for Remus and Lily, found them unharmed and grinning as well. They grabbed each other by the hand and almost skipped on to Dervish & Banges, where they planned to look for some gadget or other.

"That was brilliant! We've got Bellatrix, too! He'll be beside himself! The best thing was that the one Death Eater got away. He will suffer for the news he brings!" Lily shouted, the glee rather untypical for her, but neither Remus nor Sirius complained.

"You're right! That's the icing on the cake..." Sirius confirmed and laughed.

But he didn't look too good. He was quite pale and looked sick. Remus noticed and asked:

"Did one of their curses hit you, Padfoot?"

"No. It's rather something else, Moony. I'm afraid that I might be pregnant again, love."

"What? But we've cast the spell..." Remus said.

"Yeah, we did and we did it on both of us even, just to make sure it goes both ways. But I'm overdue and I'm feeling the same kind of nausea I felt when I was pregnant with Vega."

"Oh dear! That's soon, love."

"I know! I'm sorry, Remus," Sirius said.

"Nothing to be sorry about, Sirius. It takes two and we both relied on that spell to hold!"

"Which one did you use?" Lily asked.

"Non Gravitum," Remus replied. "Poppy gave it to us, said it was the best she knew…"

"It is, but it also has a failure rate of about three percent, I'm afraid. You should make the potion, it's much more reliable. Though not very pleasant to brew and even worse to drink. But once you've got it down it's dead sure for six months at a time! If that's unwelcome due to family planning you can override it with a spell," Lily explained.

"Oh, that's great. Now you tell us," Sirius teased.

"Do you mind it much?" Remus asked.

"No, not that much, but it is a bit soon after Vega and Polaris, don't you think?"

"Yes, that is true. But I'm happy anyway. It's not like I mind changing nappies, there are spells not to have to smell that..." Remus said cheerfully.

Lily laughed.

"You'll have to show me these, because I want a baby real soon!" she said.

"You'll profit from our growing maternity experience, young lady!" Sirius promised, still pale.

'_Yes!' thought Harry. He had long since calculated back from his birthday to get the measure of when he would be conceived. What was now in his godfather's belly was a year mate in the brewing for Harry and Hermione._

They were able to execute their shopping before Sirius got really sick. They were already past the gates when Sirius finally couldn't hold it. He vanished behind a few bushes and emptied his stomach in a most unpleasant way. When he came back, Remus conjured up a glass of fresh water and Sirius used it to rinse his mouth.

"Eww... Thanks, love..."

"You're most welcome!"

"Think I need Poppy's test?" Sirius asked.

Remus passed him a piece of chocolate and said:

"Yes, I most certainly think you do, just to make sure..."

Upon which the three took their purchases to their rooms and went over to the hospital wing. They found Poppy tending to a fourth year Ravenclaw who had been hit with a curse from a Slytherin.

"This looks really nasty, Elizabeth. Do you know who it was?"

"I know I should know his name, but I don't. All I know is that he looked like that man over there!" she said and pointed to Sirius.

"In this case it can only have been my darling little brother. Looks like his handwriting in any case. I apologise for him, young lady! He's supposed to be a noble Black, but he behaves like a bloody peasant!" Sirius replied and conjured a bouquet of flowers for the young girl.

She smiled through her tears and managed to thank him.

"You're most welcome! I'm really sorry for the git. If he were only a prat I wouldn't half mind, but he's fast on the way to join Voldemort, so you should watch out for him. Practice some nasty hexes, too! And remember to never ever confuse me with him, I'd be most hurt! I washed my hands off that family!" Sirius said theatrically, but Lily and Remus knew exactly that he was dead serious with most of what he had just said.

"Is he serious?" Elizabeth asked Poppy.

Poppy looked at Sirius for a moment and then replied:

"Well, I'm quite sure he is. He is Sirius Black, by the way and the person he would not like to be confused with is Regulus Black, his younger brother."

"Oh. Well, thank you, I'll mind your words, Mr. Black."

While Poppy helped Elizabeth into the bed, she looked back at the three young people and asked:

"And what do you want here, dears?"

Sirius pointed at his stomach. Poppy cottoned on immediately and looked at them:

"But you were under the spell!"

"First thing that came to MY mind," Sirius said laconically.

"And are you sure?"

"Since we now have the fun of this thing called menstruation I can tell that I'm overdue. Once I started after the birth I kept a calendar and noted it down. I have another pretty good other indicator. It's called morning sickness," said Sirius.

Poppy laughed. "Well, come over to my office with the sample and we'll find out..."

"Be right back!"

Sirius vanished to the toilet and brought the little tube back to Poppy who added it to the test. A few minutes later the colour gave the pregnancy away. Poppy nodded and checked Sirius up, then she declared:

"Everything's fine, Sirius, you'll give birth in May, beginning of the month I'd say."

"Oh well... we'll keep the baby stuff close at hand then," Sirius sighed.

"It's alright, love, I'm happy about it," Remus told him.

Sirius looked at Remus and smiled. He pulled him into a hug, kissed him and said:

"You always know how to cheer me up, love! Thanks! I'm okay, just don't look forward to that ugly morning sickness again."

"Do I understand that?" Remus asked, sympathy blinking in his eyes.

Lily looked quite content and said:

"Good! I'm getting another godchild! And I hope I'll be able to give one to you soon in return! We're working on it!"

"That would be great, Lily, I do think we need to gift Hogwarts with a new generation of Marauders very soon! Can't wait for Peter and Sabina get down to it, too!" Sirius said, his most mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Merlin help us! I never thought of that. Vega and Polaris are two Marauders concentrated! I'm afraid they must be worse than you were!" said Poppy and was truly shocked.

_Harry found that highly amusing, too. So – one more for Sirius. Harry was pleased because that would be someone he'd definitely go to school with! Hopefully a friend for Hermione or himself in hers or his dorm… he then noticed that he didn't even think, he simply expected any child from any of the Marauders to become a Gryffindor. Then he remembered the Weasley twins - they and the Marauders' kids together should rule this castle!_

Sirius, Remus and even Lily laughed. They knew that the Marauders, and especially Remus, had a very special place in the heart of the matron. Even now she still fawned over Remus after his transformations.

Of course they had to set up heavy protection for Peter and Sabina's wedding, too. Sabina's parents offered their home, a stately country house with a wonderful ballroom for the celebration. There were two house-elves who cooked for them and Sabina's and Peter's families had organised and prepared for the party. There were a few more guests as both their immediate families were considerably larger than James' or Lily's. But since the wedding took place indoors only it was the house and the immediate surrounding that needed to be warded and Remus had it done in three days.

The party didn't remain wholly undisturbed though and the Order had to be called in to get rid of a larger group of Death Eaters who tried to breach the wards. They had not expected so many defensive forces to show up and after a short battle, the Death Eaters they couldn't incapacitate started to disapparate.

James, Lily, Sirius and Remus had helped from behind the wards. When they returned back into the house they looked quite content with their day's work. The wards had held up beautifully, but Remus quickly went over them just to make sure. He then alerted Aurors to take away what they had left of the Death Eaters.

"Voldie must be quite annoyed with you by now, love!" Sirius said with a smirk.

"Yes, he meets those wards of yours more and more often and they don't know how to breach them! It's almost endearing to see them trying," James confirmed, thumping Remus on the shoulders.

"Thanks for the compliments, guys. I do think these wards are really quite a good piece of magic. I'm happy that people appreciate them. And even happier that they are safe behind them."

"You deserve all the commendations you get, sweetie. You're doing a thumpin' good job with them," Sirius said, "There hasn't been a successful Death Eater raid in months now! That's for a good part your doing."

He looked at Remus with admiration. Remus threw him the same kind of glances back. The party returned to their dancing and for a night they forgot about the war.

Peter and Sabina looked thoroughly happy. They were both working at Diagon Alley now, Sabina at her family's apothecary, where she went through all the jobs to learn the trade from scratch. They were all happy, because Remus and Sirius had brought their little ones, who were now asleep in a bed two floors up, magically protected from falling out of it. And of course the room had been magically sealed against intruders who weren't supposed to go into the room.

Sirius had told them all about his new pregnancy. He sighed a bit when he told them, but more because it was such a short time after his first pregnancy. One of the guys of course joked about his boobs remaining firmly in place. Remus rolled his eyes. They were now a fixture on the two young men who still nursed the children for breakfast and before going to sleep. It was still the easiest way to get them to sleep at night. That way they could usually pluck their sleeping babies off their breasts and lay them down in their cribs. After that they usually didn't hear a sound from them until the early morning. They planned to hold up until both children were a year old. And neither of them expected to change back to simply male anymore. They knew that this change was permanent and welcomed it for all the perks it gave them.

"We hope they lose interest in being nursed before their first birthday or shortly after. But by the end of the year we'll have them off our breast. Then my body gets time to prepare for the new baby," Sirius explained.

"Sounds so strange to hear you talking about that," one of Peter's brothers said.

"Well, I can't hide it, now can I? So I rather explain. Carrying and giving birth to Vega and then nursing her, and sometimes Polaris, has changed me a lot, I reckon. But they make me so happy! I never thought I'd ever have a child, let alone two or more and of course I would have said that anyone's crazy who would have dared telling me I'd have a child before I was twenty. And look where I am now? I'll be twenty in a week and I'm pregnant with my second child..."

"James, Peter, you'll have your work cut out if you want to catch up with those two!"

"Damn, I wouldn't even try! They're two of them who can breed at the same time! Fully functioning hermaphrodites as they have become!" James exclaimed.

"But you have to do a bit of work, James, we want some Marauders to be sent back to Hogwarts soon! Dear Minerva won't know what hit her when our offspring is thrown in her arms!" Sirius said with a grin.

"Sure... we do hope to have a baby soon," James promised and looked over at his wife.

"Yep! We're not going to wait, I'm off the potion. Took the last one about seven months before we got married! We plan to clutter this world with little Potters!" Lily added.

That made everyone laugh and Hope cried: "Well, you and Sabina will have to make up for Dari and I, since we won't have any children."

"That makes you the ideal babysitters!" Remus declared.

"And godmothers!" Sirius added.

The party broke up late at night and since Remus and Sirius had their children with them, they were invited to sleep in one of the guestrooms. In the morning they had to get up fairly early, because of their little ones. They didn't linger, bid their goodbyes to Sabina's parents and returned to Hogwarts.

'_Now!' thought Harry happily. It seemed like he knew exactly which of the millions of little sperms that found their way through his mum's body would carry what would become himself, Harry James Potter. He couldn't stop smiling as that particular teensy sperm found his mum's ready egg cell. He shivered as the two cells merged and it seemed to tickle him as the first few cell divisions took place. From that moment on Harry found himself really inside of his mum's womb, unable to travel anywhere else anymore. That made him a little sad, but in the end it was what he would have had to expect. He now had about forty weeks of time for quiet contemplation and inward communion with his mum. _

Lily was exceedingly happy. Apart from the fact that there was a war outside, she felt absolutely safe at Hogwarts and she worked hard for most of the time. She had been able to report much back to her department which had been received with interest. Her time was spent between research, a little training here and there, meetings with several experimental charmers as well as Remus to practically work on their spells. James came home as much as he could and whenever he was at home they had time to make love. In one of the nights in late October she woke up at an unusual time, still all entangled with her lover. She knew in that moment that she had conceived in the night.

_And inside of her Harry knew at the same time that his mum knew._

"_Mum?" he called._

Lily almost jumped from her bed – she thought she had gone mad and shook James until he woke up. He looked at her, somewhat sleepy, but asked tenderly:

"What's up, love?"

"Would you say I'm crazy if I told you that I just conceived tonight?"

"Did you?"

"I'm sure I did. But that doesn't seem to be a normal thing, what do you think?"

"I only know that Sirius or Remus didn't know right away, sweetheart."

"That's why I feel so strange. And what's more, it was like that tiny pile of cells called out to me! I really hope I haven't just gone mad, James!"

James laughed and consoled:

"I'm sure it's just because you are such a special person, my love. No one would think you're crazy, but if you have a baby in there that is able to talk to you then enjoy! And maybe share?"

"Thanks, Jamie, you just managed to sooth me, I think."

_Inside, Harry was highly pleased that his mother had actually heard him. So he decided to become more vocal._

"_You're not crazy, Mum! You'll think you are, when you hear my story, but you're not! Just remember that, okay? I love you already…"_

Lily almost broke into tears. James watched her, completely flabbergasted. She pulled him close and told him what her baby had said. They wondered what had happened that their child, only just conceived, was able to communicate with them.

_Harry answered that part immediately. He asked:_

"_Do you have a little time, Mum? Do you want to listen to my story?"_

"I most definitely want to hear your tale, little one! But first know that we've both waited for you for a good while and we can't wait for you to grow and become our baby!"

"_I've already lived a real life, very short, but a real life. I was killed a few too many times by Voldemort when I was barely eighteen. I met with my umpteenth Death Preventer, and yes, there is something like that out there for many people, and because it had happened so often I was finally sent back to about twenty years before I was to be born. He told me that I would actually know when I would be conceived, so I waited for that for a long time. THAT is crazy, don't you think?"_

"Rather so, my love. By the way – do you want to tell me if you are a boy or a girl? What name did we give you?"

"_You named me Harry James. Currently I don't feel any gender, but that's what I'll become…"_

James was wide awake now. He heard his wife whispering with their unborn baby and she seemed to get answers! Lily looked at him wide-eyed and said:

"Let me just tell your daddy, love! – It is a boy, James. And we have named him Harry James."

"How does he know that?" James asked, baffled.

Lily told her husband. James put his hand gently on her belly and talked to his future son for the very first time.

"It's so special to have that opportunity to speak to you already now, Harry. I'm very moved and very worried at the same time. I don't think we should ever mention this to anyone, should we?"

_Inside, Harry was exceedingly happy – he could even hear his father! Much more than he had ever expected to experience this early. He told Lily that he could hear his dad. And then he said:_

"_Mum, I'm going to tell you my story, but know that it won't happen this way again. While I watched you and Dad, your friends and everyone else I could grow up I felt that there were shifts in what must have been my time-line before, so nothing is going to happen the same. And you may tell Siri and Remus, but better no one else."_

"You said you were eighteen when Voldemort killed you? That bastard is not going to be able to lay his hands on you if I have anything to say to it! I'd rather give my own life than to see you die!"

"_You did exactly that for me, Mum. I was still a baby when you and Daddy died! I never really knew you. And now I know you inside and out having followed your life since you were born!"_

Lily kept telling James what Harry told her. She was absolutely amazed at what had happened to her and couldn't sleep anymore for the rest of the night. She kept conversing with her baby, but only until Harry mentioned:

"_I don't know what time of day it is anymore, Mum! From now on I won't know if you should be asleep or awake. Please take good care of yourself!"_

"I will, my love. Just want to tell you that you're making me exceedingly happy! I hope I can turn you off during the night when I'm supposed to sleep! That's going to be hard…"

"_I'll leave you now, Mum… love you!"_

"I love you, baby! Good night for now, though it's almost morning."

James and Lily looked at each other. She sat up, summoned some parchment and a quill and wrote:

"Do you think he'll be aware of everything I'm thinking and saying and you're saying?"

"Haven't a clue, Lily – I don't think there's a precedence."

"Question for tomorrow, I suppose…"

He laughed, kissed her and they did go back to sleep.

The next full moon was at the beginning of November. Remus and Sirius left their children to Lily and James and went to the Shrieking Shack as they did every month. Remus undressed and sat on the bed to await the inevitable, but it didn't happen. He looked down at the black dog residing next to him on the bed and they both guessed what that meant. No transformation - Remus must be pregnant again, too. He hid his face in his hands and shook his head.

"Oh dear."

Sirius transformed back immediately and caressed his mate's still totally flat belly. He beamed.

"I love you, Remus. And you'll enjoy another period of no transformations..."

"I can't keep that up for my whole life, Sirius! Imagine the family we'd create!"

Sirius grinned.

"Well, we don't need to exaggerate. I'm just happy for you that for a few months Moony will be banished into the back of your head. Not that I don't like him."

"Well, I don't! Like Moony, I mean."

"You don't need to like him. How does he respond to the children?"

"Loves them, I think. I don't think I'd attack any of them, but I'm not about to find out."

"No, neither am I."

"Though the Wolfsbane potion is supposed to go into final testing next year. I'd have offered to help with the testing, but when I'll be nursing another baby I obviously can't. And I sincerely hope that the contraceptive potion Lily talked about works better than the spell!"

"Maybe we just did it wrong, Remus. Maybe it has to be recast monthly or so..." Sirius suggested.

"That might be, but again, I'm not about to try and find out, I'll take the safer potion."

Sirius grinned.

"I do want to keep fucking you without fear of having you pregnant again within only a couple of months. And even though you are nursing! That was supposed to keep a new pregnancy at bay, too, you know!" Remus said, looking at Sirius.

Sirius grinned even wider.

"Actually only if you have them at your breast at intervals not longer than five to six hours. Longer than that and the hormonal protection is rather gone."

"Ah. That would explain it."

Remus got up and dressed again. It was rather cold and since he had not sprouted a thick wolf's pelt he started to freeze. Sirius got up, too, and said:

"Well, let's get back to our somewhat more comfortable abode."

"Agreed!"

"And I wouldn't mind a large family. We'll just need a really big house for all of the children! Not like we won't be able to afford them."

Remus chuckled, while they apparated out of the house and walked back to the castle on the surface. It was a very crisp, clear November night and they could see the full moon shining over Hogwarts, almost pushing the stars out of sight. Remus looked up at it and whispered:

"You don't know how this feels, to look at this icy perfection up there with my human eyes! It still amazes me."

"That's good. I know you hated it..."

"I don't hate it anymore. Haven't for a while. Just kind of regretted not to be able to see it just like everybody else does. And of course being governed by it the way I am. It rules my life!"

"More than I ever could. Though the kids rule our lives quite a bit, too. There are so many things ruling our lives that it makes me cringe, Moony! The moon is just one of them. But there are the laws, the Ministry, our parents, our friends, our children, the war, Voldie and his idiots... no reason to moon over just one part of them all... let me take you back home and love you instead!"

"Ruling..." Remus muttered, but he grinned.

When the two of them showed up in their flat, Lily looked up, highly astonished. James was with her as the two of them had promised to baby-sit. Sirius smiled, because they caught their friends short of getting undressed.

"You'd better head over to Lily's!" Sirius bellowed.

"What are you two doing here? Don't tell me, that Moony's got his lunar calendar wrong?" James stuttered, blushing.

"No, I haven't. Me not transforming can only mean one thing..."

"You've done it AGAIN!" James broke out.

"Looks like it. First full moon I haven't transformed, so I can't be pregnant for longer than a month. You two hop over to Lily's and start working on the next Potter generation real quick!"

"No dangerous days right now. But we might have done the deed a week ago..." Lily mentioned with a smile.

"Good luck!" Remus said.

"Same to you, Remus. And I was going to add that in fact, we did!"

"Wow! Congratulations! How are you so sure about it after only a week?" Sirius asked immediately.

"He caught that fast…" James said, while he finished putting his clothes back on.

"Because we were surprised with a little one that knew exactly it had been conceived and told me! I thought I was going crazy, but he's been talking with me almost non-stop since – at least through the day. The story he told me is absolutely unbelievable, but he knew so much of our lives – yours, Remus', Peter's, James' and mine, and even Petunia's and other peoples' that it must be true – and the fact, of course, that he's able to speak with me even though he's no more than a few cells so far. His name, apparently, is going to be Harry James."

Sirius and Remus stared at her, open-mouthed.

"Yep, just about like me," said James and snickered.

"Wow!" said Remus. "How's that for some utter craziness?"

"Can you keep it to yourselves? We'll keep it quiet and we won't tell anyone around us for another few weeks, we don't think we should talk about it to anyone outside of our foursome," Lily asked.

"Our mouths will be sealed, Lily. That's a bit much to swallow!"

"I tell you he knows how each of us grew up! Since we've been at Hogwarts he's even kept up with Peter, Dari and Hope! And even Sabina!"

"Wow. Meticulous and crafty little one you're getting there," said Sirius.

Lily laughed.

"Way to go for a first child! I'll probably even have to shut him up when he's coming out!"

"_MUM!" _

Lily laughed out again, loud this time.

"Yes, love?"

"_Let me grow first!"_

"Sure!"

"Was that Harry?" Remus asked, curious and already using the name as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"That was Harry. Reminding me to let him grow first, before thinking of popping him out."

Since Sirius and Remus were back from the Shack Lily and James told them everything Harry had said about his own life and how he had been sent back to long before he himself was born.

"Apparently he's been sort of 'swimming about' in the form of a spirit. Of course he can process anything in his – not even yet existing – brain and will probably be able to from the first day of his life, but he doesn't know if he will be able to talk right away. I'm sure he'll have to learn that at least, but I would expect him to be very early with everything – talking, walking and everything else. He's aware that being a baby again will greatly limit his abilities for a while, but he will be able to train his intellect in any case."

"Amazing!"

"I think we don't even know the half of it yet! Just that Harry has been around of us since each of us was born! He says he knows us inside out! I'm almost scared of that child, but I know one thing – I'll love him so much, I already do now, because he has his personality already formed. I don't think it will be easier, for one part because his personality was shaped by his life before and that seems to have been a very unhappy one for a good part of it and over all it wasn't very long either, just barely eighteen years."

"Did he tell you why he…?" Remus started.

"Oh yes! He didn't want me to know all that had happened before, just which was relevant to our lives he was being sent back to – to unwind and to learn. He says that what would change his destiny has come to pass and has put other events into place that would definitely spare him a repetition of his horrible life before. He had to grow up without us, because James and I were killed by Voldemort when he was just fifteen months old. There was a traitor and because of several bad decisions on several people's part you were sent to Azkaban without a trial and Harry had to grow up with my sister as his guardian! Yuck! That alone turned my stomach. He also said that he knew neither of his grandparents and that at least a third of the current magical population of today had perished, mostly Muggle-borns, but also halfbloods and undesired purebloods."

"And there was something that changed the prospects?" Remus asked, frowning.

"_Tell him that yes, something happened, a few things actually, and all point to an entirely different outcome, mainly because Madam Fate has placed herself into Dumbledore's head. But he doesn't need to worry about it, Mum!" Harry interrupted._

"He says that yes, something did happen, but that you're not to worry about it. And then he said that Madam Fate has placed herself into Dumbledore's head? What's that about, sweetheart?"

_Harry revelled in the term of endearment. The only one who ever used such terms was Molly Weasley and it sounded like she had ulterior motives when she used them, so for Harry this new experience was giving him goose bumps!_

"_I have to say that in my life Dumbledore has pushed me around like a chess piece. He has manipulated my life from the moment on when Voldemort killed you and tried to kill me but was killed himself because his AK bounced off of me and hit him instead. You must have done something to give me extra protection, Mum, but no one knows what. Dumbledore concluded it was your sacrifice for my survival and claimed that I was only safe where my mother's blood dwelled, hence my placement at the Dursleys. He never thought that I might not be safe from the Dursleys themselves. I was used and tested and used again, but never let in on anything I really needed to know to fulfil the destiny he had thought I had to fulfil, so it was always more guessing than knowing and relying on my luck. Well, luck ran out completely in front of the old geezer Tom Riddle. Voldemort killed me and that was that. My so-called Death Preventers at the time just sent me back to where I came from and I was killed again. I don't know how many times. My current DP tells me I don't want to know either, because my head would start to spin. To spare me – and the rest of the the world – an eternal loop of being killed and going back they administered a new DP to me and sent me back to long before I was born."_

Lily listened for a while and then explained the gist of what Harry had just told her to the others. Remus nodded and said:

"Just in case you also hear us, Harry, that's what I felt when he told us first about the bonding. Now I feel pretty much compelled to do the job he obviously thought you had to do when none of us was around to do it anymore. On the other hand this bonding gave us the means, so we're currently researching not only means of protection, but also means of destruction for the old geezer as you call him."

_Lily almost felt Harry shaking with laughter. He then told them the story of the original beginning of his life and added, which Lily transferred to the others:_

"_The most significant difference this time around is that the magical world actively fights the Death Eaters. When Mum and Dad were killed in my original life, they all just went on once the main threat, Voldemort, was gone like before. Most of the Death Eaters in his inner circle never even saw more than a question or two and a slap on their wrist. They went on to prepare the political parquet for an eventual return of their Master and that was that. But somehow this time the Ministry is much more proactive and thus also much more successful in stashing them away at Azkaban, where most of them really belong. I've seen Crouch and Mad-Eye use legal tricks I'd never have thought they could do and your dad in the position of head of the DMLE is doing a great job, Moony."_

"Who is Mad-Eye?" Lily asked.

"_Moody, Mum. He was called Mad-Eye because he lost an eye in a fight with Rosier, whom he had to kill in the end. He then used a magical glass-eye that gave him a really crazed look, when he spun it around in its socket. He could see through everything with it, even our old Invisibility Cloak, Dad. And I thought that no one could see through that!"_

"Oh, you found that! Great, that's good to know. This is a really old family heirloom that would not do to lose, Harry."

"_That was another means of Dumbledore's to manipulate me. He gave it to me on Christmas in my first year, when I didn't know his handwriting yet. Just said that it belonged to my father and to use it wisely. I never knew how he really came by it – he himself said that you had given it to him shortly before your death for closer examination…"_

"I can't imagine that I would have done that, Harry! I know exactly where it's coming from and what its powers are. There are invisibility cloaks around, but none as special as this one! It has been given to an ancestor of ours, and once you come to us you'll certainly stumble over the story of the three brothers – it's not entirely correct, but the gist of it is that our ancestor got the Cloak from Death."

"_I know the story, Dad. That's another story to tell you later on. I just used it as an example for the many things Dumbledore did that personally hurt me. I had a hard time being unbiased this time around, watching him doing things. But because I know that Fate sits in his head I know that she won't allow him to do things that deliberately use one person for a specially designed fate."_

"That is good to know, son! I feel a little outside, but let me tell you that just like your Mum I'm completely awed at you, already love you to bits and I simply can't wait until you join us!"

_"Apart from everything else you might want to know about my former life there is one more thing that we'll need to talk about and it's something else that should stay amongst us for the time being. But for the time being I only say the name of the thing this shall be about: Horcruxes."_

Sirius' ears perked up. He had seen them mentioned somewhere. He asked:

"Horcruxes - as in more than one?"

_"Yep."_

"Do you mean to tell us that Voldemort has made a Horcrux and not just one, but several?"

_"Yep. Five to be precise. He wanted six - in my time he seemed to have planned to make the sixth with my murder. But he never got it done. So he wanted his soul fractioned to seven parts, seven being that almighty magical number…"_

"I take it you know what and where they are?" Sirius asked on.

_"I do. Nothing changed about their locations so far. If you do manage to take the Malfoys down, be very aware that there's a Horcrux in their library."_

"Shall do. We'll talk about them some other time, okay?"

_"Yes, but it should be soon!"_

"Definitely!"

It was a long conversation, after which each of the four young adults had to mull over what they learned. Remus knew that he had done well by being very careful around Dumbledore's proposals, and he'd probably meet the man with different eyes the next time around, but he also took consolation from the fact that not only had the Ministry acted much better than in Harry's original lifetime, but also the Order. It seemed that they were on the right path to finish off the Death Eaters completely, not only a quarter of the way through! He took courage from that, too, not only consolation.

Poppy of course confirmed the other new pregnancy and was delighted. Secretly she thought that Remus should have a whole mass of children, if being pregnant spared him a few transformations. When Remus' parents were informed of the new grandchildren in the making her thoughts were mirrored by Richard and Venetia.

"You know, I really don't mind Remus pregnant at all if it means, that he doesn't have to transform," Venetia remarked.

"I think so, too, but that will become a very large family, love. Even if he allows himself a transformation free year only every two or three years."

"But it will give him respite from the pain. Whenever I hear one of my female friends complaining about their monthly pains I'm tempted to tell them how that feels compared to what my son goes through every month. Twice if you count the transformation in and back! And now the menstruation cycle as well. Rather let them have a monstrous family. It's not like the Blacks are poor and no matter what Sirius' parents want, he's their legal heir. Unless he dies he inherits. Would make for a nice new branch of Blacks, don't you think?"

Richard smirked.

"Walburga Black must be seething even more than her husband. He's quite under her regiment I hear. Wouldn't budge if she ordered him to sit still..."

Venetia laughed.

"Serves him right for choosing a woman four years older than him, just because her parents thought there was no other spouse pure-blooded enough for their oh so pure-blooded daughter and they wanted to get the headship into their branch. And a second cousin to boot."

"As long as she brought the desired heir forth she could be as ugly as the desert Gobi and still be perfect for their ways of thinking. Now she has a son with her own rather strong-minded character who won't practice dark arts and one that's following her wishes, but is more of the small-minded sort like her husband. Strange, how genes work, isn't it? I can't but wonder how our grand-children will turn out."

"Genetics are strong, my love, but the socialising part is just as strong. Remus and Sirius both love their children enough to be strict with them and dote on them at the same time. Just watch them they're already like mother-hens, both of them! It's so sweet to see. I'm sure that their children will turn out well. If parents are there for their children without overpowering them or become overly protective of them they usually become normal people. Remus and Sirius want them down-to-earth, but fun loving, curious and interested in things to discover yet still to be aware of the rules. Sirius emphasized the term 'discover' the other day and said he'd do that to cover up the term 'to learn', which would sound too goody-good to those of their children who would get more of his temperament. I thought that was pretty clever. 'Find out' and 'discover' arouse much more curiosity than 'learn'. Tell them to learn something and they will think it's work. Allow them to discover something and it will be an adventure. Clever son-in-law I have! I hope he succeeds with this tactic. Could almost be a Ravenclaw!"

Richard laughed at that. He thought about it for a moment and then said:

"You know, I think Sirius is extremely afraid of becoming a bad parent. And he doesn't want to become that. I'm sure he'll do well and Remus is there with him all the way. Their children will have a good part of our son in them, because that wolf inside of Remus makes him damn strong. Very interesting that it doesn't seem to become hereditary, there's not the slightest bit of it in Vega and Polaris."

"No, there isn't. They actually remind me a lot of ours. Vega has something of Julia, don't you think? She'll be a mischievous girl."

The growing family Black-Lupin knew nothing about their grandparents' musings, but the two elder Lupins were very right in all of their assessments. Remus watched over Sirius, because Sirius needed him to until he felt certain that he wouldn't become a parent like his own parents. He knew of the inadequacies of his father's. He knew that his sharp intellect came from his mother, even though she looked awful and totally degenerated. Somehow in her case it did not affect the intellect, only the sanity and the body. Sirius was disgusted whenever he had to get into contact with her. On the other hand he considered himself extremely lucky to have the handsome appearance of his father's and his mother's brain. He often thought it could have turned out the other way. He also got his kindness from his father's side of the family, the heritage of Melania McMillan saw to that.

In between further skirmishes with Death Eaters and researching Lily informed her friends and family that she had caught the 'bug', too and that she would have a baby by the end of July. James was completely thrilled and couldn't wait. Remus and Sirius congratulated them the first, as if they didn't know it already and of course promised to let them get more training with their own newly born babies to get some routine in the care of tiny humans.

"You two will be godfathers, won't you?" Lily and James asked their closest friends.

"Of course we will! You don't even have to ask!" Sirius exclaimed.

He looked good, but now he started to show his pregnancy through his robes and was growing rounder. He had passed the stage of the morning sickness and by Christmas he felt perfectly fine. They decided to celebrate it together at the Lupins' fairly large home. Dorea and Charlus Potter were invited as well and since all of the other Lupin children were there with their families it was quite an event. Richard and Venetia had acquired a house-elf for the occasion as their Christmas present to each other. A young elf named Billy had taken over the regiment in the Lupin house and they were thrilled how the little creature took off. They were treating her very kindly and within two days around the Lupin grandchildren Billy looked at them as her primary masters and tended to them better than any nanny could. She did all the cooking, but Venetia insisted on doing the few household spells that needed to be done to clean the house, make the beds and so on.

"As soon as Christmas is over and all our guests leave you can take over the house as well, Billy. That will give me more time for other things, since Rupert and Rowland are both still at Hogwarts. We don't think you should be a slave you're a worthy person of your own. Okay?"

"Mistress commands, I is following her wishes. I is doing the cooking, Madam!"

"Very good. Would you accept some teaching in how I would like the cooking done?"

"Yes, Madam."

Venetia instructed her new house-elf how she liked things done in the kitchen and Billy complied in everything she was told. Within days she was loved by everyone in the house and was happy to serve such a nice family. Not even Rupert or Rowland teased her or had unreasonable demands.

It was Vega's and Polaris' second Christmas, but the last time they had been so tiny they hadn't noticed anything of it. Now though they noticed that a lot of preparations were going on and had to be kept away from the big Christmas tree, which their fathers were decorating magically with their sisters and brothers-in-law. Roxanne's twins Stina and Stella were getting in the way, too, which made them all laugh, but it was a bit aggravating, so Sirius drew a magical line on the floor that the children were unable to cross. It amused the adults greatly how the little ones tried to come closer and hit on a cushioned barrier that wouldn't let them pass. Vega was so frustrated that she stopped crawling, sat on her behind and started bawling so loud that everyone else in the house came running to see what was wrong.

"Why is that child screaming at the top of her voice?" Venetia asked sternly.

Sirius calmly crouched down and lifted his little daughter up. He sat down with her, held her tightly and kissed her, soothed her, and once she stopped crying he said:

"I'm really sorry, my little darling, but see that tree is a bit dangerous to you, Polaris and your cousins. You don't want it to fall on top of you, love. That's why you must stay out. Tomorrow morning you can get closer again."

There were still a few sobs from Vega, but the little one slowly calmed down. Finally she stopped trying to get to the people inside of the ring around the tree. Venetia retreated to the kitchen with a smile. 'Sirius has his children well in his hands,' she thought contentedly.

Remus was happy, too. Sirius was still up on the barricades in a matter of seconds if something irked him, but so far he had kept the nerves when the something that irked him were his children. He gave Sirius a quick kiss on the cheek and smiled. They soon finished the decorations in the living room and went on to decorate the hall and staircase up to the other floors. And finally they added special little wreaths, wrapped in red and green ribbons and filled with a thick red candle on the bedside tables in all the rooms.

Every single room would be occupied. All young parents took their children into their own rooms to free enough space for the guests to sleep over on Christmas Eve and onto Boxing Day. Sirius had done some amazing transfigurations to have enough beds ready. The guests, Lily and James, Dorea and Charlus and all the remaining older Lupin children arrived in the course of the afternoon of Christmas Eve. They were welcomed with an aperitif for the adults, sweets and hot chocolate for the children.

With the wards securely in place they were able to enjoy a few days of absolute peace and since there were no Death Eater attacks in the outside world either, the dark times were left outside. Owls with gifts to family and friends not with them had been sent a few days ago and lots of them had shown up at the kitchen window where the Lupins usually received their mail. There was a huge pile of colourfully wrapped gifts under the tree, which glimmered in silver and white baubles, tinsel, fairy lights and even the candles were silver and white. Remus' part consisted of little silvery stars all over the tree and Rupert had been allowed to add the top. It was a silver fairy with wonderful fragile wings and silver hair.

With five children between one and four years it was a lively Christmas celebration. Luckily the children didn't get out of their beds earlier than usual, so their parents got up normally and assembled the family in the living room again, where the candles were burning on the tree and other lights had been turned off. They opened their gifts. Sirius sat on the floor, his two toddlers next to him and handed them each a gift. To unwrap them the children needed help, which he provided, but they discovered then and there that opening gifts brought forward exciting surprises. There were gifts from their fathers, their grandparents, their godparents, aunts and uncles. What surprised Sirius most was that there was something for the children from his mother. Even though he wasn't entirely happy with her choice of sending them something typically Black: small pure silver spoons with the Black family crest. He sighed. It wasn't like his mother didn't know that his mate was a werewolf and couldn't touch those spoons, because he was allergic to silver. He wondered about his mother's motivation to do that.

"I bet she's had Kreacher pack up the gift and send it," he muttered.

"At least she sent something - it's the thought that counts, love," Remus remarked.

"But why must she think of them and at the same time do something nasty? I don't think you have an answer for that any more than I have, do you?"

"I don't. But then I also don't know her at all."

Remus sat close to him, legs crossed, Polaris on his lap. The boy still had the spoon in his hands and Remus said to him:

"I'll have to put this away for a while until you can use it on your own, Polaris, because I can't touch it."

As soon as the boy lost interest and dropped the spoon, Sirius picked it up and banished the two spoons to the kitchen. He wasn't really angry, it was more than a surprise his mother had even thought of her grandchildren. After all she didn't have to, he hadn't even told her about them; she had been informed about their existence by Regulus. Sirius had received a Howler for that but hadn't really cared. He had considered of returning with another Howler to complain about hers waking and terrifying his children, but had not done so. Remus had been glad about that, because he didn't want his Sirius dropping down to the same level as his mother. That was the motivation for Sirius to just let it go.

After the larger part of the guests had left the Lupin home they returned all the rooms to what they had been before Christmas. Sirius and Remus stayed for another few days until after the start of the new year. On New Year's Day they both thought about the events of the past year and remembered what had been important for them.

"Hope and James becoming Aurors," Remus said.

"Dari becoming a journalist for the Daily Prophet," Sirius contributed.

"That's a good one, I hope she will be able to report things that are actually true," Remus said.

"So do I. But she's a tough girl; she's doing the right things."

"All of our friends joining the Order. The weddings. Peter doing well in his job."

"Lots of good things actually..." Sirius summarised.

"Yes, amazing, isn't it? We're in the middle of a war and still life goes on as it always has..." Remus mused.

"That's a bit how it was through World War Two and the Grindelwald Dark Days," Richard threw in.

"I can imagine. Luckily there's not another huge Muggle war going on interfering with ours!" Sirius said.

"There are enough of them going on. I mean, look what happened in Iran. Those Muggle hostages held in Tehran..." Venetia said.

"And there's the conflict between China and Vietnam, too," Sirius demonstrated his knowledge about the Muggle news. He had already been following some Muggle newspapers for a while now.

"On the other hand there's the treaty signed between Israel and Egypt," Remus remarked.

"But still plenty going on, just far enough that it doesn't really concern us here," Richard said.

"All in all it wasn't such a bad year, now was it?" Sirius asked.

"No, for us it wasn't. We didn't earn very much money, but there was no real need..."

"But still. You finally have your own Gringotts vault and it isn't empty. That's something. And I don't mind to live at Hogwarts for a while."

Remus quieted and looked at his children napping near them on a thick blanket. Then he said passionately:

"I still hate it that so many decisions concerning our lives we ought to make now have to wait until we get rid of Voldemort! That war is ruling our lives even worse than the bloody full moon!"

It didn't happen often that Remus showed such despair. Sirius pulled him close. Remus turned and sat in his mate's lap, embraced him and rested his face on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius stroked over his head and soothed him:

"One day soon, my love! We have annoyed him a pretty bit by now, he'll have to come forth soon or he'll lose more of his Death Eaters. I believe that the Death Eaters without their master will be rather easy to handle. He's the largest problem, he's hiding out and that's what is making this so difficult. We've been able to beat them so often the past year. And you know how much the two of us have contributed to that. Even the Aurors are glad to profit from our research."

Remus nodded, but still remained where he was. Richard and Venetia watched their two beloved sons and Richard added:

"It's very true what you say, Sirius. Barty comes up with ideas to allow the Aurors to use Unforgivables, but I prefer your clever schemes in using altered and new or very ancient spells much better. I know he heads the Auror Division, but I do have some influence there, too, being the head of the complete department. It's hard to show Barty that he's lowering us down to the ways of the Death Eaters. Moody has a much better attitude towards your ideas. On the other hand we have much that should keep our hopes up. There are the reports of the many people with your wards on their houses, Remus. They can at least sleep at night with much less fear. The Portkeys, which have been handed out have done so much good bringing whole families to safety in connection with the tunnels to take them outside of eventual Portkey wards. Hogwarts' support in providing work space and facilities; we have transferred entire archives to the castle for safe-keeping. All of that is worth a lot, because by daylight people who feel safe are ready to pick up their lives and the fight again. Voldemort tries to invoke fear wherever he can and he succeeds with many people. But that's for a good part because of the surprise attacks on unsuspecting people at night. That's why he's so mad at you two. You have often warded off houses he has planned to attack. Thanks to Peter for a good part, too. He's done invaluable work. Peter's information has saved countless people their lives!"

And they continued to do good work. Dumbledore had several spies, one of them he never mentioned by name even to Sirius and Remus, but that spy only told Dumbledore of the secret meetings of Voldemort's inner circle and that was when Peter came to play. He could get into any warded off area simply by transforming into the rat. None of the Death Eaters ever thought of warding against animals! And by now Peter was far beyond the state of being afraid of discovery. He was cunning enough in his rat form and the only thing slightly unusual about him was that he always carried along a tiny piece of wood of some sort, which was enchanted with the recording spell. If he didn't find a good enough spot to hide himself he dropped the wood somewhere around the Death Eaters and later on simply picked it up again. Additionally he placed his memories of the event in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

Almost every scheme Voldemort brought up in such meetings was thus known to Dumbledore. Voldemort repeatedly questioned his Death Eaters whether they had revealed anything to the Ministry or the Order of the Phoenix, but he couldn't find out anything, because none of them had given any secrets away. His methods of questioning became more and more violent. He was getting angrier every day. Magical artefacts or books he was after vanished right under his nose or people he planned to eliminate, were protected so well that it was impossible to get to them. His paranoia reached peaks when in February he finally booked a bit of a 'success' again and that was killing a group of very seasoned Aurors, the Bones and Prewetts. The Bones family mourned the loss of three siblings, two brothers and a sister, who had all been Aurors and had been very successful in bringing down many Death Eaters in the past three years. All three of them were already grandparents. The Prewetts were two brothers, who had been working as a team with the Bones siblings for six years. They were a bit younger, but both had been Aurors since shortly after Grindelwald's downfall. Both left a wife, children and grandchildren.

The magical community mourned them and sadly this event allowed Barty Crouch to finally get the Wizengamot's vote to allow certain Aurors the use of Imperius and Avada Kedavra curses if nothing else worked against the Death Eaters.

But several more Death Eaters were caught and tried in the next months. Moody had to finally break down and use Avada Kedavra when he tried to bring down Evan Rosier, one of Snape's old class mates. He kept a very ugly reminder in his face of that fight. And he hated himself for having to kill the man. Alastor Moody always tried to bring in suspects to be tried and sent to Azkaban instead of killing them. He was glad that Cruciatus had been completely banned and was not allowed under any circumstances.

As soon as Moody turned up with his brand new eye someone came up with his nickname, which stuck: Mad-Eye! Moody himself never understood why James Potter laughed his head off when he was told the story. He couldn't know that James wasn't hearing it for the first time.

In the past months Harry had revealed his complete story to his parents. They had been distraught and only Harry's repeated assurance that none of the events in his former life would happen this time around kept them from becoming very sad. Every day they could count down from the calculated birth date made them happier and happier.


	9. 09 - Hogwarts under Attack!

**Chapter 8 – Hogwarts under Attack**

Then came the day when Dumbledore's spy didn't tell him about a meeting. And precisely through that meeting an attack on Hogwarts was planned. Hogwarts had become such an important fortress of the Light that Voldemort decided he would be partaking in the attack himself and it was to take place on the last night of March.

"We'll have the rogue Dementors and three giants to our aid. I want every single Death Eater out there to join us in that attack. That would be 638 and if even one is missing I shall be very angry!"

Dumbledore's spy was finally able to tell him about the date of the attack a week before it was scheduled. That gave Dumbledore a week to summon the Order and give Richard Lupin an information to order Crouch to dispatch half of his available Aurors to Hogwarts. Dumbledore organised the students' security by relegating all of them into an area in the dungeons right in the centre of the castle, which the house-elves had prepared in the days before the attack. Right after dinner on the expected day of the battle all students were sent to this room except the sixth and seventh years, who were held back and asked if they were prepared to help defending the castle. Many of the Ravenclaws, some Slytherins, all of the Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs were at the front to help. All others were led down to join the other students and support the fifth year prefects.

Remus and Sirius wanted to fight, but Sirius was in his seventh month, so he was ordered to join Poppy Pomfrey and help at the hospital wing, and Remus would not be in the forefront of the battle either. But both would be coming out if a direct encounter with Voldemort was possible as their spells cast together were more powerful than anything Dumbledore himself had ever produced.

It was a tough fight. The intruders came by night and while it wasn't exactly difficult to come to the grounds of Hogwarts it was impossible for them to enter the castle, as the wards that centuries of headmasters and headmistresses and their helpers had set up held strong.

Not even the giants were any help. They didn't even get close to the castle, because knowing that there would be giants on the battlefield a group of Aurors had been stationed around the castle on brooms and covered with strong Disillusionment charms. They had nothing else to do at first but wait for the giants and eliminate them in any way possible long before the giants even got close. And that meant to kill them.

Nothing else to do still demanded an awful lot. The Aurors waited and feared their job. The giants had been sent out as the first line of attack. The Aurors used specially constructed brooms that sat four of them. This enabled three of them to cast and one to steer the broom. Spells cast together by several Aurors would bring the giants down much faster than a spell by one single person.

Voldemort expected the giants to get through and cause enough damage on the castle walls that the Dementors and Death Eaters might be able to get in after them. He himself arrived near the Shrieking Shack very shortly before the giants were supposed to start their destructive march onto Hogwarts. Since the Shack stood on a hill it was an excellent place to see over to the castle. He immediately noticed that the whole of Hogwarts and the grounds almost to the edge of the Forbidden Forest was flooded with magical light. A fact that made him swear quite creatively.

"Betrayed! Again! Who is the traitor? I will find you and if I do you are going to die a very slow and painful death! Where are the giants now? Does anything work out here?" Voldemort screamed and looked around some of the people around him.

They were all masked, so none of them was able to see the sheepish faces of the others. But underneath their masks each and every one of them was shocked and embarrassed and very, very worried. They all knew they had not passed on any secrets. All but one. Who was very glad for the mask right now.

The giants turned up on time and went through the forest, but to his horror Voldemort had to see that they started to flail their arms at something he couldn't see.

Of course the Aurors were there and started throwing curses at the giants in groups of three. It took at least five of them to take one of the giants down. They quickly assembled and attacked the giant in front, bringing him down with a collective Avada Kedavra. The giant broke down, falling back and hindering the man behind him, whose grunts rather sounded like yells in the ears of the Aurors, who attacked the next and finally the third giant. On their brooms they could react to every movement of the giants. Dumbledore's most important first line of defence had worked successfully.

"If Voldemort knows anything about the wards around Hogwarts he goes home with his Death Eaters now," Moody grunted to Remus.

"He should... but I doubt he will. He's that arrogant…"

They were waiting on the South Tower, out of the light, which had been charmed on the outside of the walls of Hogwarts on about thirty metres height. From there the light shone over the grounds on all sides and on all towers there were people waiting for the Death Eaters. Of course Voldemort knew now that they must be ready at Hogwarts. But he still tried by sending the Dementors ahead. At least two hundred of them slowly glided across the grounds from all sides. Dumbledore ordered everyone who was able to cast Patronus charms to send out theirs and a lot of them were charging at the Dementors. Remus quickly sent for Sirius, who came up to the South Tower within minutes.

"We need to cast a Patronus together, love!"

"With pleasure, my dear!"

Sirius and Remus went to the highest tower in the school, the Astronomy Tower to cast their Patronus. They didn't cry it out loud and they didn't need to hurry, as the Dementors were far enough away from them, they couldn't really feel them. The good thing was that they could still fight them at this distance. Remus said:

"What's your memory, love?"

"The moment, Vega landed on my belly," Sirius said without thinking.

Remus smiled and replied:

"And I was going to suggest the same - feeling Polaris on my skin just after he was born. On three then?"

They held each other by the hand.

"On three! One, two, three! Expecto Patronum!"

Remus had cast his Patronus at the same time and both watched as two giant animals broke from their wands, a huge silvery dog from Remus' and an equally huge wolf from Sirius' wand. Both animals charged down the tower, over the grounds and broke into the ranks of the Dementors, sending them packing, but the Death Eaters were able to turn them back to the castle again. New Patroni were sent from the castle, including another pair of the wolf and dog from the Astronomy Tower. This was repeated about three times, then Remus lost patience.

"Come along, Sirius, we go back to Dumbledore. I want to try out a theory of mine."

"Okay. Let's go."

They returned to the South Tower, where Remus said:

"Have the others continue to send Patronus charms, but let some come closer here, I want to see if it's true that the Dementors can be burned. I know that they are bred practically from decayed flesh, stabilised and mobilised, so it must be possible to destroy them. I want to try with fire."

"That's not a bad idea, we watch out and send them away again with more Patroni. It's good for us to be up here, they can't get into the castle and they can't climb, we're so far away that it's not too bad being around them."

"That's our advantage. Are the Slytherin students who are sympathetic under control?"

"Absolutely. The students are all locked in and the charms are set that they can only be reversed from the outside of the doors. In other words, even if the students know the counter charms they won't help them. Filius has done excellent work there."

"Very well."

Dumbledore called the other towers through two-way mirrors and informed them to keep throwing Patroni onto the Dementors. But there were none from his end. Several Dementors eagerly came closer and when they were only a few metres away from the castle walls Remus sent a common Incendio charm down at the first one. The Dementor's cloak took the fire and within moments the creature stood in flames. Moody and Sirius immediately attacked other Dementors with the same charm and saw that the result was good, because Remus' Dementor was already nothing but ash. Upon that Dumbledore gave order to let all the Dementors come close and finish them off this way.

On the other hill Voldemort was reaching the maximum of his rage. He fumed and ranted, but it didn't help him and when he finally heard Dumbledore's voice, amplified by the Sonorus charm he almost exploded in rage.

The voice was loud, but calm and gentle.

"Do give up, Tom. You know that you cannot get through here. Hogwarts will always remain to be a haven of learning and we do not take kindly to being attacked. Attack us and you might even be sorry, because you will lose. We are prepared to receive you and there is not a millimetre of this castle that is not protected against your entrance."

For a moment it seemed that the Light side would win because the evil Dark Lord was almost exploding. He jumped at the voice of his old teacher. He fumed even more and in his blind rage he sent out his Death Eaters to get into this castle or die at his hands. He only kept his inner circle back.

The Death Eaters were doomed. They had to attack, their master wanted it so, but even those who were able to cast decent Disillusionment charms didn't get very far. On the grounds were charms to counter these spells and the area was flooded in light. Dumbledore's order was clear:

"Do not kill them. Carefully choose your goals and stun them. Then bind them. Repeat until they are all stunned. I would like to isolate Voldemort."

There were far less people defending the castle than attacking Death Eaters, but they were organised and they had a good and able leader. Voldemort had assembled all of his terrorists and they had to openly attack the castle. The result was that the defenders could pick their objects and mow down one by one. The stunners came in such masses that the Death Eaters didn't have the time to enervate their comrades and so they all went down. Behind the main doors Aurors were ready to go out and summon the bound and stunned people and take them to the Great Hall. As soon as an area was quite clear they went to work, levitating the stunned Death Eaters inside, disarming them and binding them properly so they couldn't move anymore.

Sirius looked down from the tower and said:

"Let's see, if we can't get him out there. He probably still has his inner circle around himself. I'll taunt him for a bit if you let me, Albus."

"I am not sure that this is a really good tactic, but since his Death Eaters are now mostly out of the picture I think you can have some fun with Voldemort," Dumbledore said with a smile.

Sirius cast Sonorus on his throat and his deep voice boomed over the grounds:

"Voldemort! If you aren't a bloody coward show yourself and stand up for yourself!"

There was no reply. That pleased Sirius, because he went on:

"You can see that we got your Death Eaters and those we haven't got are disapparating faster than you can say attack! They must be even bigger cowards than you are!"

Still no reply but Voldemort was seething. And then Sirius hit the nerve:

"Your ability to lead an army is slightly less efficient than your ability to be cruel, Voldemort! Where are your legions now? They are very good at cowardly attacks on innocent and defenceless people, but it's a lot easier to torture and kill little children than it is to stand up to grown up and trained fighters, isn't it?"

This was the final straw. Voldemort cast the Sonorus himself and screeched:

"Who are you? Who dares to insult the Dark Lord like this?"

Sirius' eyes glinted. That was to his taste and he gladly told Voldemort off.

"Take three guesses, Voldie-dear. It's one who was asked to become your follower by his parents and who refused. Because I would never ever lower myself to your level, Tom Riddle. I rather enjoy my Muggle and Muggle-born friends, thank you very much! I rather like my half-breed mate and I'd kill you a dozen times over if you'd dare to endanger him. Besides you're a bloody hypocrite, or is there another reason that you aren't bragging about your daddy dearest? He was a Muggle after all, wasn't he?"

"**BLACK**! Oooooooh! Let me see you and shred you to pieces! Come out and duel me, you... you... I'll tear you up and even if you come with that Lupin creature, you'll lie dead at my feet in a minute!"

"You want us to duel you? Fine, Voldemort, we're there! In the grounds, in the open where everyone can see us! You'll not stand the point of a chance, so better beware!"

"Sirius! You're pregnant! Both of you! You can't go out there and duel him!" Dumbledore hissed.

Sirius took the Sonorus charm down.

"Yes, I think, we can. We give him a clear warning and either we succeed in killing him or he'll flee. I'm quite sure that once he's been at the end of our first two or three spells he'll get out of here. Besides, he's so angry now that he'll make mistakes."

"And that would be a nice headline in the Prophet, Albus. People would know that he's not invincible," Remus confirmed.

"He's thrown the gauntlet; I'm ready to throw mine down as well. We have to do it."

Dumbledore sighed.

"You are not only playing with your own life now. You are responsible for the two lives you carry and the two you've already created..." James cried.

"Exactly. And we're not ready to waste them. They give us extra strength. I'm quite sure this will not last long. We have some pretty good strategies. Like Remus can conjure slabs of stone to hold off his expected Avada Kedavra spells..."

"That's the only reason why I let you go out there," Dumbledore decided, "Because I've seen these slabs."

Sirius and Remus were let out of the main door. They walked to meet the Dark Lord, or should one say waddled? Sirius, as tall as he was, showed his pregnant belly prominently through the robes he wore and Remus, though almost two months less far, started to show very well, too. Neither tried to hide the fact, on the contrary they used it.

Voldemort was coming at them quickly. He thought he would finally eliminate two of the most annoying of his enemies, the two who did much of their damage with their wards and with their research. But he didn't know just how strong the two were in duelling. When he saw their obvious condition he started to taunt them:

"Oh, so you want to get rid of the things growing inside of you?"

"Shut up, Voldemort and get ready to die!" Sirius replied, rather annoyingly calm.

"You can't kill me, Black! No one can! Bow!"

"Will you? Rather get to the point, Voldemort. You know nothing about honour, because you haven't any."

About ten metres apart they stood. Remus kept to Sirius' left side, because they would cast their spells connected by their hands and used their connected hands to cast most of the spells wandless. They had no scruples for fighting Voldemort two against one, the man was simply too dangerous to the peace in the wizarding world to be let off the hook. If they could they would kill him tonight. Though they had prepared a few spells that were killing through other means than Avada Kedavra. Spells they had kept to themselves, but practiced with and without their wands.

As expected Voldemort immediately started casting the killing curse, but Remus steadfastly brought up slabs of granite to catch the spells, while Sirius used regular duelling spells from Expelliarmus to Stupefy, but gradually after a few minutes he threatened Voldemort with flying knives. Voldemort was hit by a swarm of them and of course they were so sharp they injured him quite badly.

Up on the tower there were cheers for Sirius and Remus and lots of people taunted and verbally attacked Voldemort to distract him. James and Peter were the rowdiest and threw some pretty ugly insults at the Dark Lord's head.

Sirius was just going to crown his work with an Incendio spell when Voldemort disapparated right from the grounds at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had quietly lifted the anti-apparition wards to give Remus and Sirius the opportunity to apparate into the castle if need should be.

Seeing their master disapparating, his remaining Death Eaters followed suit. Remus and Sirius looked around. They looked up to the South Tower and apparated there, then Dumbledore reset the anti-apparition wards immediately.

"Well done, you two. I would not have let you go alone, Sirius, but together with Remus you will be very hard to beat. And now he knows what to expect. Those flying knives were quite impressive," Dumbledore commented.

_Inside of his mum's belly Harry had gotten all he needed to know. His heart became very light as he understood that he would not have to be the one to beat this monster. _

_"Haven't they done extremely well, Mum?" he asked quietly._

"Exceptionally, my love. Seeing that I'm not half as afraid anymore."

_"We'll have to find the Horcruxes soon, Mum, possibly before he's killed, because then he'll be killed for good."_

"We're working on them, love."

Several people had taken photos of the duel, which wasn't really a duel at all. Sirius was quite happy with his evening's work.

"Thank you, Professor! All that waiting and training paid off, don't you think? It was good to have a little something to do finally! Now I gladly return to my nursery and the library..."

Everyone around him hooted and roared with laughter.

"Voldemort driven off the battlefield by two pregnant men! Isn't that just THE biggest joke of the war?" someone shouted.

"And the thing even asked for them both! What an idiot he can be!"

"I really liked your taunt with his inability to lead troops in battle, Sirius! That was great!" Lily cried. Inside of her, Harry loudly agreed.

_Harry had enjoyed the little duel immensely. He now knew that the honour of getting rid of the monster would now most certainly fall on Sirius and Remus. Both of them seemed to accept the duty, too, but not without their usual portion of humour. They didn't like that they would have to kill, Harry could feel that, but when he heard them talking after the event he learned that they were prepared to use those flying knives again – and not only in a training-like environment as tonight, but in a proper barrage of knives. It would be quick and even though it would be messy it would be inevitable. There would be so many of these knives Voldemort wouldn't be able to get out of them anymore._

All in all they were all very relieved. A full attack on the castle's defences had gone by and there was not a single scratch on anything or anyone. Voldemort had literally run against a wall. And what was worse he had left the battlefield ridiculed. All of his thugs were gone. None had gotten closer than a hundred metres before they were hit. He still fumed and raged when he met the poor remainder of his Death Eaters again. And he let them pay for it. All of the ones close to him were punished with heavy doses of Cruciatus.

Then Voldemort had them all turn up a few days later and served them stolen Veritaserum. He did find his traitor and he also thought he found his spy. The man was tortured with Cruciatus until he died. It took a long time, but finally after several hours his heart couldn't take the pain anymore and gave in. Voldemort burned him on the spot and whoever mentioned his name again in Voldemort's company was tortured, too.

The biggest damage was the loss of most of Voldemort's followers. Dumbledore was sorry to see the count. About half of the people were not British, but those who were had almost all passed Hogwarts, most of them former Slytherins, but there were only too many from the other houses. Dumbledore entered the Great Hall when the first of them started to recover from the stunners. All of them had been disarmed and all of them were still under a full body bind.

It took the Aurors all night to take the prisoners to Azkaban. There were only a few Dementors left in the fortress, but those were willing to stay there seeing the masses of fresh prey to feed on. The prisoners would be kept there until their cases were tried. For the Light side this was the most important battle in this war. With one strike they had taken out most of the Dark Lord's active followers. The Daily Prophet brought out a special edition with all of it and the front page featured the best picture of a prominently pregnant Sirius throwing the knives at Voldemort, who staggered backwards on the photo, unable to get away from the knives until he disapparated, bleeding heavily from the cuts.

A reporter showed up and interviewed Dumbledore and then Sirius and Remus. Pictures of the two and their two children turned up in the next edition of Witch Weekly. Sirius and Remus hardly ever lived down all the letters to the editors of the two publications that stated how cute the two of them looked feeding their children porridge at breakfast.

"Oh, stuff it already, people! I'm NOT cute!" Remus cried, frustrated.

But the fact that he had chosen the moment for his explosion to coincide with his changing Vega's nappy, didn't really help to make that point clear.

The Death Eaters were expected by most to lick their wounds and take some time to regroup, but Dumbledore suspected that Voldemort would probably strike somewhere smaller just to show to the public that he was still there. So Dumbledore stayed attentive. He planted an article through Dari in the Prophet in which he stated that everyone should remain very alert. Voldemort was wounded, but not deathly injured. He would have to show his grip on everyone by hitting somewhere and it would probably be somewhere unexpected.

And indeed he struck at a place where no one expected him to except for the Aurors and the Order. Though there were quite a lot of Aurors at each Quidditch match he chose to attack a game between the Ballycastle Bats and the Wimbourne Wasps. Both were extremely popular teams, so there were always masses of spectators. The Ministry didn't want to stop the Quidditch league, because they felt that people should live as normal as they could, even in times of war. But there were usually not more than three matches on one day, because for each match it took twenty Aurors. Strict anti-apparition wards were set onto the stadiums. People could apparate out at the end of the game, but no one could apparate in or out as long as the game took place. The wards were set up one day prior to a game. It was a rule that was applied on any regular Quidditch game to ensure that only people with valid tickets got into the stadiums. What wasn't advertised was that Portkeys, whether properly issued or illegally enchanted ones would be stopped as well.

The attack was launched in late April, on a beautiful day, because good weather would guarantee lots of spectators. The Wimbourne stadium was packed with several thousand people. As an added point of interest was the fact that the Bats would play for the league championship, so many fans came along with their team from Ireland. No one knew that there were several of Voldemort's remaining Death Eaters in the audience, waiting for a few 'bombs' to explode. The bombs were poisonous snakes, trained by Voldemort to attack humans. They were told to hang on to the Death Eaters and would be given a signal to sneak from their holders' arms into the pack of people around them. They were to bite as many people as they could to start a panic.

Since Dumbledore was out of the spy inside of the Death Eater ranks he didn't know where they would strike. He placed Order members in all public events, the Quidditch matches, too, where they supported the Aurors.

The match started on time at one in the afternoon. Everyone's focus was on the game when after half an hour the snakes were let loose. Small snakes could not do too much of a damage in terms of poisoning people, because they could bite two, maybe three people before their poison ran out, but they could easily cause a panic. Which set in only moments after people discovered the little beasts who had spent their poison quickly onto several victims.

With the anti-apparition and anti-Portkey wards still firmly in place people panicked and started to move to the exits. The snakes had been trampled to death after only a few minutes, but the panic was not to be stopped as easily. Children were falling off the balustrades. Some people pushed others out of the way who then fell down to the pitch. But when the stadium speaker finally spoke up he was able to stop everyone:

"STOP! STOP! Do NOT move, please! Everyone please stand still exactly where you are! It seems that a couple of small snakes have bitten some people, but please! They have spent their poison, please stand still, freeze, do not move, so not more damage can be done! Healers, please rush to aid those who need it! We will not lift the anti-apparition wards in order to find the people who let those snakes loose! Please, everyone, stay where you are and, if you can, return to your seats! Help those who are injured or give us signs where someone has been bitten..."

The stadium speaker was the hero of the day. He was able to halt the mass of people in movement, to get them to sit down again, so that everything could be sorted out. The game was interrupted, but the speaker announced that it would resume as soon as everyone injured or killed and their escorts were taken care of. All information the speaker got he passed on immediately. Not much later it became clear that the game could not be resumed, but the speaker promised that everyone would receive new tickets for the re-match.

"We have blocked all exits. No one can come in or go out uncontrolled. The Aurors are searching the stadium; please grant them access around your seating areas, thank you! Remember that we cannot let these attacks rule our lives; we have to move together and show them that they are not wanted! I know it is hard to trust, but today we all stick together and help each other!"

The speaker turned out to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix and he took the chance to stand up and say his piece about the Death Eaters. The Aurors took their time, but by working from one end through the oval stadium in both directions and meeting again at the other end they caught at least three of the people who were responsible for the attack. More had probably left the stadium on foot long before after setting lose their snakes.

Sirius read the Daily Prophet the next day:

"An attack at the Quidditch league championship match between the Wimbourne Wasps and the Ballycastle Bats yesterday led to sixteen dead and seventy-two injured. All injured people were out of the hospital by midnight.

A panic, caused by a few snakes let loose by Death Eaters almost led to a disaster. Thanks to Ed Simpson, the stadium's speaker, and his courageous coaching through the loudspeakers a worse outcome could be prevented. Simpson, a 46 years old wizard who acted as speaker for Quidditch matches since shortly after leaving Hogwarts and one of the best known savants of the British Quidditch league, held up the morale through his verbal coaching for hours on end. He was taken to recuperate from exhaustion after the stadium was finally cleared shortly before midnight.

It seems that the Death Eaters calculated that the stadium's responsible authorities to lift the anti-apparition wards to allow those people with apparition licenses to leave the stadium immediately. But the authorities, under the direction of the Aurors watching over the game, decided to stick to the wards and to block every exit or entrance to the site.

Three Death Eaters were captured. They were recognised by the Dark Mark tattoos they wear on their left forearms. It is unknown how many other Death Eaters were present and were able to get out but it seems that only three were on site.

The match will be repeated next Friday, 26th April at the same stadium. All ticket holders are free to use them again. Even damaged tickets are still valid, as long as they show the date or the pairing of the match."

Sirius put the paper down and looked up at Remus.

"So Albus was right as we thought he would be. He needed to set a mark..."

"Not altogether very successful though, don't you think?" Remus replied.

"No, but a mark nevertheless. Now he's probably going to sit back for a while and lick wounds. We've greatly reduced his forces for the moment. It will be harder to find more followers now. Especially since we ridiculed him," Sirius said.

"I think so, too. We have some time for you little ones! And your soon to be expected siblings. After which stars do we name the next batch?" Remus asked cheerfully.

The weather became a bit friendlier now, there was more sun, but it was still quite cold. Remus and Sirius took the children out to the grounds to play with them. They visited Hagrid in his cabin on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. They read them stories and looked at picture books with them. And Sirius prepared for the birth.

Sirius was a bit more scared of this birth than before the first one. Now he knew what awaited him and he tried to get ready for it, but to already know the feeling frightened him. At least before the event took place.

The baby took some time, but was finally born on the sixth of May. Sirius felt the first waves of pain only slightly early in the afternoon. The contractions grew in intensity over the course of the afternoon and the intervals reached five minutes after dinner time. Remus had called Poppy over and Sirius dropped his final clothes, stayed on his bed and just let the waves of pain roll over his body. He was doing quite well, rather getting tired, but concentrated. From about eight until the baby was out he was really under a heavy dose of pain, and he screamed an awful lot. James had taken the two children over to his room, while Lily stayed with Remus and Sirius. Sirius worked hard, he pressed the baby out and finally, after eight hours little Alya was there, shrivelled and covered with the whitish fluid that had protected her skin in the water. Poppy first gave her to Sirius, who welcomed his second daughter in his arms. He had tears in his eyes, from the labour and the pain, but also because he was so moved that it was over and he held his healthy little baby daughter in his arms.

She was small and looked like a carbon copy of Remus. That was at least what Lily claimed to see. _Inside of her Harry sent out his congratulations. His own birth came nearer and he was in a very cheerful mood._

The baby opened her eyes already, turned her little head around and thrilled Sirius to bits with that. He caressed her very gently with his big hands. Remus watched this and said:

"Thank you, love! She's quite a lovely little one."

"You've given me another daddy's little girl, love..." Sirius whispered.

"Happy?"

Sirius nodded. He let Remus caress the baby. Poppy spelled the navel clean and once the cord was gone she wrapped Alya in a baby blanket. Remus picked her up for the first time.

"Hello, my sweet little daughter! Welcome to the family, little one."

He held her so that she could look into his face for a moment, then he laid her against his chest. Remus beamed as he held his daughter. He felt the slight kicks of the baby in his belly at the same time and thought it was an incredible feeling. It made him smile. Lily watched the two men. She almost cried and thought it looked so sweet. Poppy quickly cleaned Sirius and the bed up. He sat up and stretched out his arms. Remus returned the little one to him. Both smiled at each other and Remus bent down to kiss his mate.

"Love you. And the little ones."

Sirius held him in place and returned the kiss.

"Feeling okay?" Remus asked softly.

Sirius nodded and turned back to Alya. She made a few little noises and he grinned.

"Yes, girl, speak up! How about filling that little belly of yours? Want a first taste of your food for the next couple of months? It's tasty, you'll see!"

Sirius guided the little mouth over the nipple and Alya didn't need telling twice. Her reflexes in place she snapped the nipple and started to suckle. Sirius snapped, too, but for air.

"Wow, lady! You're knocking the wind out of me! Take care of your old man, will you? That's better now..."

Alya struggled a little at first, but she got enough into her belly to satisfy her for a while. By the time she had finished she was almost asleep, but the food in her belly helped her stay awake for another little while. Poppy took her to check her up with a few spells.

"She's perfectly fine, Sirius. Congratulations. You've done a fine job, too!"

"Thanks, Poppy."

Remus took Alya back up and went to get her dressed. She was completely dry now and while there were still a few red spots all over her she looked rosy and healthy. Remus un-wrapped the blanket. He gently washed her with a soft cloth, then he got her dressed. Her crib had been set up in the bedroom, so he brought her back to the bedroom and put her down into the crib. He turned around and Lily stood there, giving him a great hug. He grinned.

"Both of us pregnant... makes for funny hugs!"

He patted her bulging belly. She still had to wait for a good three months and his own baby was still almost two months away.

"Let's fill the announcement and send them off," Remus said.

"Yes, let's go."

They left Sirius back to recover and take a nap. Alya slept as well, so Lily and Remus returned to the living room where Remus filled one parch-card and spell-copied the others. The envelopes had been prepared beforehand and all the cards were inserted. He only needed to pick them up and take them up to the owlery. While he did that Lily informed the headmaster. She gave the password to the gargoyle, climbed the moving staircase and, reaching the oak door, knocked.

"Come in!" Dumbledore called.

Lily opened the door and her smiling face promised good news.

"Hello, Lily. What can I do for you?"

"Sirius has just given birth, Albus."

"Oh, lovely! Is he well?"

"Yes, very well. He has another girl. Her name is Alya. She's a cutie and perfectly fine according to Poppy. Both are asleep now."

"I shall see them tomorrow then. Remus is happy, too, I would think?"

"Beams! He's just gone up to the owlery to send the birth announcements. Even with the baby in his belly he's had that spring in his walk... he's looking great right now."

"That he does. After that confrontation with Voldemort and now with a newly born baby daughter I would expect him to be quite happy. It is good for him to become so self-confident. He needs to think more of himself. And how are you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm fine. It's still a couple of months, but James can't wait now! I think I have a bit more patience."

Remus had meanwhile reached the owlery and sent off a couple of birth announcements. He returned to Sirius quickly and found his mate fast asleep. Remus undressed, threw a last glance into Alya's crib and climbed into the bed next to Sirius. Sirius snuggled up to him in his sleep. Remus smiled as he pulled his husband close and slept right away.

They had the usual round of people congratulating them the next day. Peter and Sabina had taken the day off to come and see the newly born girl and the baby's two godmothers Dari and Hope turned up as well. Sirius was back into nursing and this time it was already known territory, so he didn't mind the visitors who streamed into their place at Hogwarts. Remus was happy to have another daughter. Actually he was just happy to have another child.

It was a bit of work to get settled into their new life with now three children. Sirius was off the hook for some of the work because he was already nursing Alya, who proved to be a hungry little one and was quite demanding. Vega and Polaris were curious, but they didn't really understand that they now had a younger sister. Remus played with them as much as he could, always trying to avoid making wrong movements with the baby still in his belly.

His time came just before the June full moon. He had hoped that the full moon would pass before the baby was born, but it was not to be. In the middle of the night on the twenty-seventh he went into labour and it lasted well into the next day until the baby was born. It was another boy and everyone around grinned; as Sirius had now borne two girls and Remus two boys. They named the new little one Antares. Remus had hardly time to recover from the birth, when Sirius helped him to the Shrieking Shack, because they didn't know if Remus would transform that night but had to think he would. And he did. But Moony was very subdued that night and Padfoot didn't have a hard time nudging Moony on the bed. They stayed there for most of the thankfully short night.

Still, giving birth and transforming twice, all within twenty-four hours was a bit much for Remus, he was out of it for most of the day and the next night. Sirius took it onto himself to nurse not only Alya, but also Antares. But the second feeding he propped Remus up a bit and helped Antares feed from his other papa, just to get the lactation going. It was a bit of a hard job, but he managed to do it. Poppy was by his side, helping him. She had assured Sirius that Remus was fine, just over-exhausted and that he needed some rest. By the next morning Remus was awake again and hungry like a wolf. Sirius beamed at him and sent for his breakfast, then he brought Antares to him and made him nurse the baby.

"There isn't much in there, I'm afraid, love," Remus said to his suckling son, "but I promise a better cuisine very soon."

"He'll take what's there and wake you up an hour before his time..." Sirius prophesised.

"Takes no skills in Divination to guess that," Remus replied.

They were both extremely happy. They had made it that far, Remus had survived the birth and the subsequent transformation, everything was just fine at that moment.

But there was a surprise in store for them later in the day. They had both installed themselves and the babies as well as their toddlers in their living room when there was a knock on the door. Sirius opened it and in strolled a haggard looking Snape.

"What are YOU doing here?" Sirius sneered.

"Dumbledore told me to come here, how should I have known I'd find YOU here?" Snape replied, a bit too loud, because he woke not only Antares, but Alya, Vega and Polaris, too.

"Oh, great, now look what you've done, you idiot?" Sirius swore.

Snape looked around, rather bedraggled, and pointed at the children.

"What's that supposed to be? A bloody nursery? I thought you were doing research here..."

"For your information, we ARE doing research here. They're our children though. And if you can't behave in here then march straight back out. We don't need any Death Eaters around our children," Sirius seethed, door still open in his hand.

"I sent him to see you, Sirius, because you will work together on some levels. Severus has come to see me today. May I come in and meet the new Mr. Black?"

"Hello Albus! Yes, of course, please come in. He's crying over there, Severus just woke them all up. We need to get them back to sleep."

It wasn't quite so easy to soothe four tiny children back to sleep at the same time. Remus picked up Antares and Sirius lifted Alya on his arms and both sat down and let them suckle for a while, which put them back to sleep nicely. Then they stood up and took the babies over to their bedroom, where they could lay them into their cribs. Then they returned to the sitting room to take care of Vega and Polaris, who were both still quite upset. Both took hold of one of the children, taking their time and not caring whether the headmaster wasted time waiting for them or not.

"You'll have to pardon us, headmaster, but the children do come first," Remus apologised.

"That is quite alright, Remus. Do take your time."

Remus calmed Vega down, put her head on his shoulder and rocked her gently. Sirius mirrored his actions with his son. He threw a worried glance at his mate and asked him:

"Are you okay, Remus? Not tired?"

"I'm fine, love."

"Good. - So, what's all this about?"

"Voldemort has ordered Severus to come and ask for a position on the Hogwarts staff. He thinks he needs a spy in our ranks, and he was convinced it would be a good idea to have someone here who is sly enough to find out what we might be up to. Severus has offered because it is known that I am out of a Potions Master since the end of the school year. I have, of course, given him the position. For one, he is excellent at potions, for two, Severus has come straight to me to tell me he would like to work for us and help us defeating Lord Voldemort. That obviously means you will see each other here at Hogwarts and I want you to be civil with each other. You will also work together at some levels. Severus, if you need to report something you come either to me or you go straight to Remus and Sirius, if I should not be available. Is that understood?"

"Yes, headmaster," Snape said, but it was clear that he wasn't pleased with the prospect of having to report to those two.

"Good. I trust you three can behave like adults and leave each other alone?"

"We are busy enough with the research and our little ones, we will certainly not waste time with schoolboy amusements," Sirius promised.

"That is what I wanted to hear from you, Sirius, thank you."

Snape still looked at the little ones. He took in the changed appearance of both, Remus and Sirius and was rather bewildered. At the last confrontation between Voldemort and the pair of them he had remained in the circle of the other Death Eaters of the inner circle as he had been told to do and his back had been to the area where they fought, so he had not seen them then. Now he noticed that both of them had fairly prominent female breasts hidden under their robes.

"What's the meaning of that?" he asked, pointing at the children.

"That, I am afraid, is my fault, Severus. But I can't give you the details unless Remus is comfortable with me giving away his secret to you..."

Remus looked at Dumbledore angrily, but gave in.

"Only if you memory-charm him if he gets aggressive..." he whispered.

"Granted. Remus has been bitten by a werewolf when he was but a small child, Severus."

"What? And you let him into the school? Werewolves are monsters!" Snape said.

"If Remus is a monster, then I'm a giant," Sirius spat, "he's certainly less of a monster than all of you Death Eaters. At least he hasn't ever killed anyone."

"As you know Remus is a very gifted wizard, Severus. That is why we have allowed him the education that is self-understanding for every wizard and witch. It was far from self-understanding to Remus. And he has not disappointed us. I know that Tom Riddle has the greatest of respect and seethes about the wards Remus has set up left and right. You probably know that as well. Now the reason for them to be able to procreate is that werewolves can mate for life after all. It does take a while, but Remus and Sirius underwent the rituals. One consequence is that the body of a mated werewolf, if male, develops all female reproductive organs. The werewolf becomes a fully functional hermaphrodite. Since in our case we have two males who were mated the effect showed in Sirius as well. The mating boosted a lot of magical power in them. You might remember an incident in Hogsmeade when you were disarmed and not only you, but about a dozen other people found their wands gone and themselves on the ground, too. That was the effect of them casting a spell together. A very powerful combination. The mating only works when both partners who wish to bond for life are virgins."

"So they could get... pregnant?" Snape asked, baffled.

"Yes, they could, and they did, because I did not tell them of the possibility. It did take a year for their bodies to have undergone that internal change. Once they were pregnant for the first time, some time in February or March before the end of their seventh year, their power was boosted a further step. I can safely say that if these two here cast a spell together, with their bodies connected in some way they are probably casting the most powerful magic possible in these days."

"Are you telling me that these two are capable of killing the Dark Lord?"

"I am. Did you see Lord Voldemort after his confrontation with them?"

"Only a few days later."

"Then you did not see the wounds they cast on him. Among other things they sent a hailstorm worth of sharpest knives at him and he caught a fair few of them. The beauty of the spell is that they can, once they have it down completely, send a whole line of such knives, so that no matter to where the victim tries to jump they will be hit. They will even be able to make those flying knives follow their victim. For this time Lord Voldemort was only hit by the knives Sirius threw at him, but if they get a chance to ever do the same and cast the spell together... then I expect that this will be the end of your Dark Lord. He is not yet far enough to have conquered death and I do not intend to let it come quite that far. I am sure you will agree with me."

"Yes, I think, I do," Severus admitted.

"Good. Are you ready to see your quarters now? I do expect they have been prepared by now."

"Thank you, sir."

Dumbledore took Snape along and Sirius and Remus looked at each other with their mouths slightly hanging open. Remus pushed his jaw back up with his hand and said:

"Well, there's a surprise."

At lunch they met Lily who came over to share it with them, and they informed her about the new Potions teacher.

"Oh dear! Imagine our children having school with him! He'll be SO mean to them."

_Harry, who hadn't told her about Snape yet, confirmed that._

"He'll be a killer! I really hope that by the time they come to Hogwarts he'll be out of the picture. But he really seems to want to help Dumbledore. I don't think, Dumbledore would trust him if that wasn't the case," Remus said.

"You know, if it was Voldemort himself who planted Snape here, and Snape acts as a double agent for our benefit, then we could use that one day. We need to give them time to gain trust on both sides. I have a few ideas!" Lily said.

"Like?"

"Well, there are the meetings. It's going to be too obvious if we get information about attacks from Snape and thwart them. That would put him into a very awkward position. But if Snape can use excuses during term for not going to meetings we could send Peter again and then thwart attacks. That would make Voldemort suspect anyone but Severus, because Severus wasn't there and wouldn't know details straight away, would he?"

"Brilliant! No wonder you're so good at chess. Let's suggest this at the next Order meeting!" Sirius exclaimed.

They did just that. The next meeting was just a week away, so they had a chance to bring this up. They arrived on the spot in time and when Dumbledore entered, he brought Snape with him. Most people started to murmur and were outraged, but Dumbledore asked them to be quiet for a moment and listen to him:

"This young man has become a Death Eater something over a year ago. But half a year into serving Lord Voldemort has taught him that this is not what he wants. You all know that it is a very difficult thing to get away from the Death Eaters and to our knowledge no one has been able to do it so far. Voldemort enslaves his servants. Instead of trying to get away fully, Severus has given his master the idea to plant him as a spy at Hogwarts. He had heard about the opening for a Potions teacher and came to me, to ask if I would entrust him with the position. He told me that Voldemort wanted to use him as a spy right in the middle of our safe haven. And he offered to act as a double agent in our favour. I now give him some classified information to take to Voldemort. Nothing really dangerous, but he needs to bring some things to his master, so Voldemort won't suspect he has changed the sides. I now want to ask you to accept Severus as a member of the Order of the Phoenix. I have full trust in him and believe him. He has already given me some valuable information and will continue to do so as he is in Voldemort's inner circle already at his young age."

There was a vote against trusting a Death Eater from two members, but then Sirius stood up and said:

"I agree with you, Albus. We should accept him."

All other Marauders supported that vote and since everyone knew how much the four of them despised the 'greasy git' they also knew that if the Marauders accepted Snape into the Order he should be all right. Snape was almost dizzy when he heard his arch-enemies from his school days speak up for him. He received a place at the table and then Dumbledore opened the meeting.

Snape blinked. No initiation or anything? He looked puzzled and quietly asked Peter, who sat next to him.

"No. You are free to leave anytime. You do this here out of your own free will," Peter said quietly.

"Oh."

"Your master won't know and won't see anything that will give away that you are a member."

"That's good then," Snape said and put his right hand over the Dark Mark on his left wrist.

Dumbledore outlined the development of the situation since the last meeting, several members reported their latest missions and then Dumbledore asked:

"Very well. It has been a bit quiet in the past two months. He has made himself known at the Quidditch game, but otherwise we know not what Lord Voldemort is up to. But nothing has happened anywhere and there is the danger that people get lulled by the inactivity. Severus tells me that he desperately tries to regroup and is now recruiting new Death Eaters. We have taken over six hundred out of his service, so it will certainly take a while until he has regrouped and he will have a harder time finding such people as he is looking for. I do not think that the pureblood families who are his prime target for recruits can replenish their ranks that fast. And he would have to wait a considerable amount of time for the new soldiers to grow up, would he not?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled and there was laughter in the room.

"Now then. That gives us a little time for our own schemes. Now that we have the upper hand I would like to work out some trap or something, because he remains to be a great danger to many lives and we need to have him eliminated. I would not normally claim a life, but this is a life that must be exterminated. Does anyone have an idea to contribute?"

Lily stood up.

"I think we should give Voldemort time to trust that Severus really spies for him. I would not suggest feeding all too wrong information; that would certainly make Voldemort very suspicious. And finally I have thought about this and thought it might be good to take all suspicion away from Severus and try to find out if there could be reasons for him to stay away from some meetings. To which we would send Peter instead of Severus."

Snape snorted.

"You actually think you could send Pettigrew under my robes and mask? He'd be found out in seconds flat."

The Marauders, Lily and Sabina all grinned.

"No, of course not, Severus. But every time you 'can't' go to a meeting - you're held up as a teacher of this school after all, and you can't get out without being missed, at least not too often, because that would really cause suspicion, well, to such meetings, Peter would go. He has a perfect disguise, rest assured of that, because he's been to dozens of your meetings already..."

Snape's eyes grew wide. Then he counted two and two together:

"The Dark Lord tortured Woodward to death with Cruciatus because he thought he was the traitor! So he wasn't? How did Pettigrew know where to go?"

"Mr. Woodward was not really a spy. But he supplied me with the dates and locations of your meetings and Peter went to pick up what he could. Mostly we have received a full account, because all he needed to do was place his memories into my Pensieve, Severus. Now, I am telling you this only because I know that you are a very skilled Occlumens, and you will certainly be able to keep that particular information away from your master."

Dumbledore turned to Lily, who had taken her seat again.

"If it is at all practicable I think you have just had a wonderful idea, Lily. We absolutely need to protect Severus from harm. Not only because of his value to us as an informant, but definitely because he is in a very dangerous position and trying to turn his back to evil. That alone obligates us to do our utmost for his protection. Severus, do you think, you will get your master to be a bit pliable about your attendance at meetings? It would take suspicion away from you. So far Voldemort has no idea that we have a spy far outside of his ranks who nevertheless is in a position to be there. We will not tell you how Peter can do that for his own protection."

"I don't know, sir, but I will have to report back if I have been accepted to the position in the next days. I'm waiting for the call as it is and then I can discuss the terms with him. Usually he is not pliable at all. So far I have mostly been asked to brew potions for him. And since he was satisfied with them I do think I am quite in his favour. But these potions are almost all very deadly poisons, which he uses on those Ministry people in the most cases. Usually they just vanish after having been exposed to those poisons. I cannot guarantee that I can fail them all in future. I can make some antidotes and play them into the hands of possible victims, but not all of them or he would be suspecting me in an instant."

There were gasps in the room. Some people started to protest again, to Snape's surprise two of them were former Slytherins, among them one Andromeda Black.

"I understand that, Severus. As terrible as it is, if he asks you to brew such potions you will have to oblige. I am sure we still will lose lives, but I am certain that we can prevent a few of them. Very well. I shall await your information when you come back."

Nothing else needed to be discussed. While the people started to leave the room, Severus looked at them and noticed that the Order of the Phoenix was a very mixed society. Men, women, old, young, members from all four houses, some from the lower segment of the wizarding population as well as nobility. There were Aurors, professionals of all sorts and several house-wives. But he had heard a few reports from several of them and had quickly gathered that they all knew what they were talking about. Some people were so old he thought they had probably already taken a great part in the war against Grindelwald. He left to find his quarters near his classroom in the dungeons. Since there were no students in the castle, the Order members casually streamed through it to the main Entrance Hall, something they certainly wouldn't do when school was in session.

It was the beginning of July and the students had only just left. A week after his first meeting with the Order Severus was called to Voldemort. He apparated there and noticed they were completely alone. The high pitched voice of his master told him to get up. Snape obliged and saw himself opposite the man he would hate for the rest of his life.

"Master, I come to you as your loyal servant."

"Very well, Severus. What do you have to report?"

"I have been accepted as the new Potions teacher of Hogwarts."

"That is excellent, Severus. And did you gain the trust of the old fool?"

"Yes, master. I thought it would be a good idea to even offer to spy for him to gain his trust."

"That is brilliant. Did he accept?"

"Not at once. That's why I was glad you didn't call me right away."

"I thought it would take a while. After all there are the school governors to be convinced of the choice of teacher... so you have already taken residence at Hogwarts?"

"Yes."

"Did he entrust you with the knowledge about the wards?"

"Alas, no, master, only he himself and the deputy headmistress know about the wards. They are not allowed to pass the knowledge on to anyone else, not even the school governors."

That was a lie and immediately Snape felt Voldemort prying into his head. He had to use all of his strength to cover the lie up.

"What else have you found out?"

"There is a secret organisation, Master, which they call the Order of the Phoenix..."

"I know about that! That's very old news already; Dumbledore started this ridiculous thing back when he fought Grindelwald. Anything else?"

"Black and Lupin are part of this Order."

"Could have known that..." Voldemort hissed.

"Yes, I admit it was quite obvious."

"Will your work as a teacher leave you time to continue brewing potions for me?" Voldemort asked.

"Yes, I think so. Potions that will take more time will have to be done over the weekends, but quick potions I can make any time. I might not be able to come to all the meetings though, because I might be missed. Not only by Dumbledore, but especially by McGonagall, who is responsible for the staff as she's the deputy headmistress. And she won't take well to a teacher being absent all the time."

"Yes, that is clear. You will try to make it as often as you can and I will summon you on weekends only."

"That will be best. Can we say you can call me on either Saturday afternoon or Sunday evenings? To bring you the potions I've made or to take your orders..."

"Can you add Friday evenings?"

"Yes, Master."

"Very well, that will be all for the moment. If you are absent from a meeting I know that you have not been able to get away, but I do expect you as often as you can. At least once or twice a month."

"Yes, Master."

"Very well, Severus. I will need you to make these four potions, soonest. You can go now."

"Yes, Master."

Severus took the parchments with the potions and threw himself to the ground as was asked from a servant of the Dark Lord and as soon as Voldemort had left he got up and returned to Hogwarts. He reported back to Dumbledore. He then proceeded to do the same as Peter usually did, to not forget anything he placed the memory of his encounter with Voldemort into a Pensieve. They looked at it together and Dumbledore nodded.

"Do you mind if we show this to everyone in the Order at the next meeting?"

"I do, actually, but I suppose it has to be..."

"It would prove to them that you have done your best," Dumbledore said softly.

"Okay. Then let them see."

"Very well. Thank you. Severus. I trust you have made yourself comfortable in your quarters?"

"Yes, I have, thank you, sir."

"Wonderful. Now I won't hold you up, I think you have some potions to brew."

"Unfortunately," Snape sighed and left the headmaster's office.

On the last day of July Lily finally went into labour. She sent Sirius out to go and find James. Sirius had to go quite far to achieve that and finally caught up with James on the south coast, where he was observing a suspect Death Eater of the inner circle. From the Auror headquarters Sirius brought a replacement, so that James could leave.

"Hey mate!" Sirius whispered behind James, who jumped half a metre into the air.

"Padfoot! What are you doing here, you prat?"

"I'm bringing your replacement, because you're on duty somewhere else today. Lily needs you; she's gone into labour three hours ago. Remus is still with her. Moody lets you off the hook for three days."

"Yay! Hey, Kingsley! Thanks for replacing me!"

"That's very well, James. I know the feeling! Good luck to your old lady!"

"I'll tell her! Everything here's been quiet so far; I only got here about an hour ago. I'm off then!"

Sirius and James apparated to Hogsmeade and rode the two brooms Sirius had taken along up to the castle. In no time they reached Lily and James' rooms, where Lily was working through the contractions with Remus' help. He and Sirius did most of the support in the next hours; James had declared that since they knew how it felt they would have to know best how to help. He was happy to run around and do errands for them. But they ordered him next to his wife when the baby finally came. A tuft of jet-black hair announced the arrival of little Harry James Potter, an adorable baby boy. As soon as she held her son on her arms, Lily felt revived and was happy when Remus helped him to find the nipple and suckle his first meal. James was completely taken with his son and seemed to only consist of a smile.

"Wow, what a feeling to finally meet you, Harry," he whispered. "Your mum could at least feel and hear you, I only had everything second hand. It's great to meet you, my love."

After all these months inside of his mum Harry had left embarrassment behind because he had to witness every sexual encounter between the two, but feeding from his Mum's breast still embarrassed him greatly. He wanted to reply to his father, but found that he couldn't produce the words yet. A completely normal baby wail came out of his mouth well expressing his frustration. The four young people who knew how well Harry was able to communicate, laughed, but Lily immediately consoled her son:

"Well, methinks that for the next few months you'll simply have to learn to be a baby, my love. No worries about suckling – forget Freud, I'm sure this won't do you any harm, even though it is a conscious act for you, okay? It is, after all, the best food for you at this stage."

Harry nodded. At least he could do that he noticed. And of course, even though he was a newly born he could smile, because he knew what it was to smile. First Lily and then James bent over him to kiss his rosy cheeks and assured him of how much they loved him already. Harry held out his hands to James, who was allowed to hold his new baby.

As soon as the navel was cleaned and magically healed and Harry had his first meal in his belly, he was allowed to move to James' arm. There were tears of emotion streaming down James' cheeks and he was so proud that everything had gone well. He marched out of the bedroom with the baby to present his son to his parents who had arrived two hours before and whoever else was in the sitting room. Dumbledore was there, of course, and McGonagall.

"Everyone! Please meet Harry James Potter, my son. He's now an hour old."

Sirius and Remus had stayed with Lily, until everything around her was cleaned up and Lily declared she would like to get a bit of sleep. Remus laughed softly, kissed her on the forehead and said:

"That's about the last time you can get that unconditionally, Lily, because from now on little Harry is going to rule your life!"

"I'm very afraid that is going to be the case. Thank you both for so much guidance and care! And of course we're very lucky in that Harry can already consciously work with us."

"Can't leave a fellow mother in the ditch, now can we?" Sirius teased.

"No, and I'm glad for that maternal solidarity!"

"You're very welcome. Now sleep well."

The two followed James to the sitting room, where their own children had been watched by two house-elves and later on Charlus and Dorea Potter. They greeted Sirius and Remus warmly.

"Hello Sirius, Remus! Your little darlings are delightful as ever!" Dorea said.

"Hello Auntie. Thank you. It's wonderful to have them, but they're four and they're all still tiny, so it's a lot of work. But we love them to bits," Sirius replied.

" I know you do and you seem to do a fine job. Nursing's all fine, too?"

"Yes, and I expect the next meal is in order now. We've had to take off a couple of times during Lily's labour. How do you like your grandson?"

"We love him already of course! He's such a cute little fellow. How is Lily now?"

"She's fine, just tired. She's glad for a little nap right now. I'm sure you will see her later."

"Excellent. Now you go and feed your little ones."


End file.
